Patented space-grade cameras are expensive, limited, and difficult to develop. The manufacturer of Smallsat NanoAvionics recently dodged any development issues and opted for something off the shelf. The company used a GoPro Hero 7 mounted on a custom selfie stick to take a selfie really out of this world.
The NanoAvionics MP42 microsatellite bus took the 12-megapixel selfie at an altitude of 550 km above the Coral Sea and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, according to a press release. The private company, with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and Lithuania, says it is “the first complete satellite selfie with 4K resolution in space with an immersive view of the Earth.” The small satellite, along with two other satellite buses built by NanoAvionics, were launched into space in April aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
12 MP image taken by the GoPro. (Photo: NanoAvionics)
Typical cameras used for this type of application do not have enough resolution, are too expensive, take too long to develop, and do not always offer immersive vision. The GoPro Hero 7 was considered a good solution, but some tweaking was required. In addition to reducing the camera to its “bare bones,” the engineers “made a custom housing for the electronics, made a custom” selfie stick, “and developed camera control electronics and special software to communicate. -with satellite systems, “the company explained. . Engineers also “rigorously tested it to show that it can survive the harsh environment of a rocket launch, as well as the vacuum and huge temperature changes in space.”
“The reason for taking the photo and video clip with the Great Barrier Reef in the background was partly symbolic,” Vytenis Buzas, co-founder and CEO of NanoAvionics, said in the press release. “We wanted to highlight the vulnerability of our planet and the importance of satellite Earth observation, especially for monitoring the environment and climate change.”
Image: NanoAvionics
The company said it is using GoPro to test and verify satellite operations, and also to test its new PC 2.0 payload driver with Linux. The payload driver optimizes downlinks for “applications that require onboard processing of large data packets,” according to NanoAvionics. The company expects the camera to provide visual inspections of payloads, confirmation of successful deployment of things like antennas and solar panels, detect damage and other physical anomalies, such as small impacts caused by micrometeorites, and for use as tool for educational purposes. . Similar configurations could also be used to continuously monitor satellites to assess changing conditions over time.
Satellites are increasingly used by the private sector to look at the Earth in addition to themselves. In April, San Francisco-based Planet Labs announced plans to deploy a global constellation of 32 Earth observation satellites. Incredibly, these satellites will be collectively able to track a single site a dozen times a day and with resolutions good enough to find a toaster. Colorado-based Maxar Technologies has a constellation of satellites with similar capabilities.