Nasa and Amazon will stream a live conversation in 4K from the ISS on 26 April

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For the first time ever, Earth-bound humans will partake of the glory of outer space via a 4K Ultra HD livestream, courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and Amazon.

The stream is primarily intended for broadcasters at the NAB Show convention to be held in Las Vegas on 26 April, but regular folks can also tune into the stream here. Nasa will also make the stream available as a recording after the event.

Variety reports that the stream will begin at 10:30 AM PT on 26 April, which would translate to 11:00 PM on 26 April in India.

The stream is actually a demo of Amazon’s Elemental encoding technology as well as the power of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its Content Delivery Network (CDN). Elemental is a next-gen encoding format for compressing high-resolution video content in real-time, and NAB is a broadcaster’s convention, after all.

Nasa is also understandably excited for the technology. The ability to stream in 4K means that Nasa administrators on the ground will be able to better monitor whatever it is they need to in deep space or the ISS.

The stream itself will involve a conversation between astronaut Dr Peggy Whitson on the ISS and AWS Elemental CEO and co-founder Sam Blackman, reports Variety. There will also be a panel discussion with various engineers from Nasa and Amazon as well as people working in the field of AR, VR and broadcasting.

The stream will be available in 4K and HD.

Publish date: April 12, 2017 12:39 pm| Modified date: April 12, 2017 12:41 pm

Two NASA astronauts cast their votes for the 2016 presidential election from Space

The American Flag in the cupola or viewing deck of the ISS. Image: NASA.

  08 Nov 2016 , 14:16

As US gets ready for a nail-biting election on Tuesday, two American astronauts orbiting the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour have already cast their votes from space. According to NASA, astronaut Shane Kimbrough has officially filed his electronic absentee ballot from the International Space Station (ISS). Another astronaut Kate Rubins cast her ballot before returning to Earth last week.

Thanks to a bill passed by Texas legislatures in 1997 that put in place technical voting procedure for astronauts, the two astronauts – residents of Houston where the Johnson Space Centre is located a. voted while in orbit. For astronauts, the voting process starts a year before launch when they are able to select which elections (local/state/federal) that they want to participate in while in space.

Then, six months before the election, astronauts are provided with a standard form: the “Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Request – Federal Post Card Application”, the US space agency said in a statement. “Space voting” was first used the same year it was implemented in 1997. NASA astronaut David Wolf became the first American to vote in space while on the Russian Mir Space Station.

Current space station resident astronaut Shane Kimbrough is the most recent astronaut to take advantage of the opportunity. While astronauts do not have to wait in line for his ballot like the rest of us, there is one disadvantage to voting in space: they miss out on the highly coveted “I Voted” sticker!

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NASA releases enthralling 4K fly-through of the International Space Station

By tech2 News Staff /  01 Nov 2016 , 16:28

NASA has uploaded an Ultra High Definition (4K) video of the International Space Station (ISS) shot with a fisheye lens on YouTube. The video was produced by Harmonic, a video infrastructure provider, for NASA TV. The video explores the various modules that make up the ISS, but is not a single take continuous shot. Equipment and containers are attached to the surfaces in all directions, which shows how claustrophobic the interiors of a space station can get.

The Cupola, photographed by one of the Expidition 40 crew members. Image: NASA.

The video starts and ends at the Cupola, an observation deck with seven windows which offers a spellbinding view of the Earth. The tour then takes viewers through the Unity module, a passive connecting block to which the other modules are attached. It functions as a passageway on the ISS, and was the first US built segment of the ISS to be launched. Up next is the Zarya Functional Cargo Block, a Russian built module that was the first component of the ISS to be launched. The Zarya module is used mainly for storage.

Inside the Russian Zarya Storage module. Image: NASA.

The Pirs docking module has ports to interface with Russian Spacecraft Soyuz and Progress. The Pirs is a Russian made airlock, one of the two on the ISS. The video does not show the other Russian docking module, Poisk. The Destiny module is a centrally located US laboratory for space experiments, and is full of scientific equipment. Harmony is a connecting node module. Two ports are permanently attached to the Columbus module and the Kibo Laboratory module. The other two ports are used for docking by visiting spacecraft.

An exterior view of the Kibo Laboratory attached to the ISS. Image: NASA.

The European made Columbus module and the Japanese Kibo Laboratory module are both laboratories for conducting scientific experiments. The Kibo laboratory is the single largest module in the ISS. The Kibo laboratory has an airlock, through which scientific experiments are taken in and out of the ISS. Tranquility is another node module, that connects to both Unity and the Cupola. There are waste management systems on this module, and the oxygen for the crew is generated here. The video ends with another visit to the Cupola.

NASA also casts a livestream from the ISS. These show the crew operations on the interiors or at times, just the Earth passing below the station.