People have a fascination and curiosity of knowing what the Earth looks like from outer space. Countless videos and images of it are present on the internet, but people want to experience it with their own eyes. While this may not be possible for most, a new technology adopted by Google will let people explore the international space station currently in orbit around the Earth.
View of Earth from space
Google’s Street View is a popular program from the company which is mostly used by the people around the world to check out various places on the planet. For instance, with this application, a person sitting in the United States can easily check out the panoramic view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This program is similar to virtual reality and lets people explore various parts of the world.
However, Google Street View has added a new destination where people can visit and it is none other than outer space. The program takes people inside the International Space Station if they want to explore the amazing outpost established by humans in space.
Through the Street View functionality, people will be able to see every nook and cranny of the ISS along with the machinery and structure of the station.
People will no longer have to worry about the disorienting effects of a microgravity environment of space and neither will they have to wait for a miracle which will allow them to visit space to see the wonders that lie in that all encompassing void. However, a visit to the ISS through the Street View not only reveals the Station and space; it also gives people a glimpse of what the Earth really looks like from outer space.
How was the experience captured by the Google team?
No member of Google’s team has ever traveled to the International Space Station, so how did the company get the necessary images needed for creating the panoramic experience of the ISS?
It was actually a former crew member of the space station who was tasked with capturing the required images aboard the ISS. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet was given charge of creating the panoramic database of the complete space station, a task which is usually performed by a multi camera rig on top of a car.
However, as this was in space, sending a car up was not viable and so it needed to be done manually. The astronaut used the large range of DSLR’s on the station from various space agencies in the world to create the panoramic images of all of the 15 different modules that make up the ISS. These images were then beamed back to Google, where the staff edited and created the panoramic view.