Category Archives: Real-time space

Hurricane Lane tracked from space as it nears Hawaii

Satellites are key to tracking hurricanes and giving sufficient warning to reduce damages and loss of life. Hurricane Lane, a rare major storm in the central Pacfic, is heading towards Hawaii and is being watched by satellites in GEO as well as by the ISS.

** Hurricane Lane from the ISS

Hurricane Lane was pictured by an Expedition 56 crew member as the International Space Station orbited nearly 250 miles above the Central Pacific Ocean on Aug. 22, 2018.

Hurricane Lane from the ISS

** NOAA satellite image – Aug.23.2018

** GOES satellite image time lapse of Lane movement on Aug.22.201

** Major Hurricane Lane Heads Toward Hawaii – (NESDIS – Aug.22.2018

GOES-15 satellite shows Hurricane Lane. Credits NOAA.

** NASA ISS video:

** NASA’s GPM Sees Hurricane Lane Threatening Hawaiian Islands With Heavy Rainfall

On Aug. 22 at 1:48 a.m. EDT (0548 UTC) the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed over Hurricane Lane when it was a Category 5 hurricane in the Central Pacific Ocean. GPM found very heavy rain occurring in powerful storms located in Lane’s well defined eye wall. Moderate to heavy rainfall was also covering a large area extending outward from the eye. Credit: NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce

** NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP Satellite Views Category 5 Hurricane Lane

On Aug. 22 at 8:08 a.m. EDT (0208 HST/1208 UTC) The VIIRS instrument aboard NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP Satellite passed over Hurricane Lane when it was a Category 5 storm in the Central Pacific Ocean. Suomi NPP provided night-time and infrared imagery that showed the eye, gravity waves, and feeder bands of thunderstorms wrapping into the eye. Image Credit: UWM-CIMSS/William Straka III.

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP Satellite Views Category 5 Hurricane Lane

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Video: Live streaming of ISS camera views of the earth

NASA offers live Youtube streaming of camera views of the earth from the International Space Station:

Behold, the Earth! These are live Earth views from the International Space Station from the High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment. While the experiment is operational, views will typically sequence through the different cameras. If you are seeing a black image, the Space Station is on the night side of the Earth. If you are seeing an image with text displayed, the communications are switching between satellites and camera feeds are temporarily unavailable. Between camera switches, a black & gray slate will also briefly appear. 

More from the caption:

The experiment was activated on April 30, 2014 and is mounted on the External Payload Facility of the European Space Agency’s Columbus module. This experiment includes several commercial HD video cameras aimed at the Earth which are enclosed in a pressurized and temperature controlled housing. To learn more about the HDEV experiment, visit: https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/ESRS/HDEV/

Please note: The HDEV cycling of the cameras will sometimes be halted, causing the video to only show select camera feeds. This is handled by the HDEV team, and is only scheduled on a temporary basis. Nominal video will resume once the team has finished their scheduled event.

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Video: Streaming earth imagery from HDEV cameras on the ISS

One of the payloads recently delivered to the Int. Space Station recently by the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is the High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment. It consists of cameras attached to the exterior of the station that stream views of the earth. You can watch the feed at ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment



Live streaming video by Ustream

Caption:

The High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS) was activated April 30, 2014. It is mounted on the External Payload Facility of the European Space Agency’s Columbus module. This experiment includes several commercial HD video cameras aimed at the earth which are enclosed in a pressurized and temperature controlled housing. Video from these cameras is transmitted back to earth and also streamed live on this channel.

While the experiment is operational, views will typically sequence though the different cameras. Between camera switches, a gray and then black color slate will briefly appear. Since the ISS is in darkness during part of each orbit, the images will be dark at those times. During periods of loss of signal with the ground or when HDEV is not operating, a gray color slate or previously recorded video may be seen. 

Analysis of this experiment will be conducted to assess the effects of the space environment on the equipment and video quality which may help decisions about cameras for future missions. High school students helped with the design of some of the HDEV components through the High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) program. Student teams will also help operate the experiment. For a display of the real time ISS location plus the HDEV imagery, visit here: eol.jsc.nasa.gov/HDEV/ To learn more about the HDEV experiment, visit here: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/917.html

Emphasis mine. At the moment of this posting the display is gray.

Deep Space Network Now – display of communications with space probes

NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) of giant antennas used to communicate with probes to deep space now has the cool DSN Now display showing which spacecraft is currently being contacted by each antenna. There is also info on the particular spacecraft. : Check Out NASA’s New “Dashboard” for Spacecraft Communications – Universe Today –

DSN-LiveDisplayDSN Now