ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli, Expedition 26 flight engineer, works with the ERB-2 in the Harmony node of the International Space Station. [Photo:NASA]After seeing and hearing 50 years of space travel in radio transmissions and black-and-white to color-television, we can finally see it in 3D. A camera developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) has produced the first live-streaming 3D images in space-flight history.
On August 6, NASA astronaut Ron Garan used the Erasmus Recording Binocular (ERB-2) camera to film footage of the ISS interior. The footage you see below of Garan playing with an inflated globe was streamed live to ESA's research and technology center in the Netherlands. (Note: The 3D effect may not work properly in all browsers, and you'll need a pair of red/blue anaglyph 3D glasses to see the 3D effect.)
The ERB-2 camera itself is a shoebox-sized three-dimensional video camera that can also take images with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels. The ERB-2 is the second generation of ESA's stereoscopic camera developed by Cosine BV (Leiden, Netherlands) and Techno System (Naples, Italy).
The scientists hope the near-real 3D footage will bring a new immersive perspective to their viewers and make them feel as if they were there. The ESA will be posting the first ERB-2 images to their YouTube Channel.
Of course, the ERB-2 will also serve some practical use on the ISS, including filming future operations outside of the ISS to support the astronauts' spacewalks or other critical robotic operations.
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