I remember the first time seeing Google Earth and wondering if there would ever be a time when we could get live satellite images and see ourselves waiving at the satellite. Then, when I considered how many satellites this would require, I gave up hope that this would ever happen in our lifetimes......until now. The key to making this work is to use ultra-small "microsatellites" containing only very basic electronics. Each would contain an imaging camera with the ultra macro lensing system required, gyroscopes to keep its orbit from decaying, and wireless communication systems for communication with the satellites on either side of its orbit. It would simply be a small ball, in both shape and size. Its
By delivering the first live, continuous, true color image stream of Earth from space, AstroVision will revolutionize the delivery of weather, news, and environmental information.
EDIT: And I doubt that 8 bits per channel would be nearly good enough because of the enormous dynamic range of the Earth, so multiply the above data rate figures by 2 to get 16 bits per channel.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 02/21/2012 07:02 pmEDIT: And I doubt that 8 bits per channel would be nearly good enough because of the enormous dynamic range of the Earth, so multiply the above data rate figures by 2 to get 16 bits per channel.8 bits can be adequate if you use lookup tables to encode more bits (usually 12).
Quote from: PeterAlt on 02/20/2012 10:58 pmI remember the first time seeing Google Earth and wondering if there would ever be a time when we could get live satellite images and see ourselves waiving at the satellite. Then, when I considered how many satellites this would require, I gave up hope that this would ever happen in our lifetimes......until now. The key to making this work is to use ultra-small "microsatellites" containing only very basic electronics. Each would contain an imaging camera with the ultra macro lensing system required, gyroscopes to keep its orbit from decaying, and wireless communication systems for communication with the satellites on either side of its orbit. It would simply be a small ball, in both shape and size. ItsNo, it is not now or everA. gyroscopes don't keep satellites in orbit, they only point spacecraftb. they can't be small, there is a fixed aperture size to get the resolution to see a person. c. Same goes for the field of view, either more spacecraft or larger spacecraftd. Speaking of the number of spacecraft, it would be in the 1000's or more to get the instantaneous coveragee. Collecting the data from all these spacecraft would implausible and actually might be enough to overwhelm the internet
Also to make it more realistic live coverage of certain regions would be very useful, but the vast majority of Earth's surface is not worth it. Remember 70% of the globe is ocean. Going beyond that humans inhabit only a small part.
Check the website - that's not live
Quote from: DarkenedOne on 02/21/2012 08:59 pmAlso to make it more realistic live coverage of certain regions would be very useful, but the vast majority of Earth's surface is not worth it. Remember 70% of the globe is ocean. Going beyond that humans inhabit only a small part.Yes, good point. The system could begin by covering major metropolitan areas at first and expand to more areas over time...
Quote from: rdale on 02/21/2012 08:42 pmCheck the website - that's not live Not live of course, but fresh images every three hours.