The International Space Station (ISS) will soon install a new camera observing Earth, and controlled by a remote. (Photo : NASA)
The International Space Station (ISS) will have a new camera that'll have Earth observed by a remote control.
The new camera system called ISERV will launch this Friday with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's third H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-3). Once the installation is complete, researchers have the ability to acquire images of specific areas around Earth in efforts to enhance environmental studies and disaster analysis.
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ISERV Pathfinder was designed and built at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and stands for the International Space Station SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System. SERVIR is also a Spanish acronym meaning "to serve."
"ISERV came about because officials in developing countries are sometimes unable to acquire the images they need to address environmental threats and provide post-disaster assessments," said SERVIR's Capacity Building Program Manager Nancy Searby. "The SERVIR team approached NASA's ISS and Earth Science Applied Sciences Program with the concept of acquiring the needed imagery from the ISS. The ISERV test bed payload is a result of that collaboration."
"Images captured from ISERV on the ISS could provide valuable information back here on Earth," said SERVIR Program Director Dan Irwin. "We hope it will provide new data and information from space related to natural disasters, environmental crises and the increased effects of climate variability on human populations."
ISERV is the first of a series of Earth-observing instruments for the ISS, each to feature "progressively more capable sensors." Future sensors could provide a wider view of Earth, providing information regarding climate change, environmental hazards, disasters, mapping, and more.
"The addition of ISERV will enhance the growing set of tools aboard the station to monitor Earth," said NASA's International Space Station Program Scientist Julie Robinson, at Johnson Space Center. "It reaffirms the station's commitment to helping solve global issues."
The development of ISERV was made possible with NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Directorate collaborating with the Science Mission Directorate's Earth Science Division Applied Sciences Program.
For more information on the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station.
For information on SERVIR, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/servir.
