The High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment aboard the ISS was activated on April 30, 2014. The experiment includes several commercial HD video cameras mounted on the External Payload Facility of the European Space Agency's Columbus module.
Check out the streaming HDEV imagery with a real-time ISS location display. There are three cameras, one pointing forward, one backwards and one downwards. Note that when the ISS is on the night side of the Earth we see a black scene. When switching cameras or when the communications downlink is not available, we will see a gray scene. Otherwise, it's a glorious live HD video of our beautiful planet from space.
When I started Project Eden in 2011, I tried to use scientific facts and artistic imagination to visualize how the Earth looks from space. Now I'm so happy to be able to see the real thing, despite the limited resolution of the video stream.
Even though I don't know any of them, I'm very grateful to the people at NASA, ESA, the high-school students who participated in the HUNCH program (High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware), and whoever else is involved to make this experiment possible. Perhaps a higher perspective will make more of us appreciate our planet and environment better, realize we are all part of a bigger existence, and lessen the illusion that our individual agendas are as important as we make them out to be.
Enjoy your view!
