Two high-resolution cameras developed by Vancouver's UrtheCast Corp. (TSX:UR) are now being installed on the International Space Station.
The two high-definition cameras – worth about $10 million each – were blasted into space November 25 on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan.
They were installed on the International Space Station on December 27, but failed to send signals back to the Russian Space Agency, so they were brought back inside the space station to avoid them from being damaged by the extreme cold of space.
The problem appears to have been fixed as cosmonauts are now (January 27) busy installing them on the outside of the space station.
The installation is expected to take six hours and according to most recent reports, cosmonauts are still outside the pace station installing the cameras. The spacewalk can be viewed live on UrtheCast's website.
Once the cameras are fully installed and operational, UrtheCast will begin calibrating them in preparation for its debut broadcast of images of Earth from space.
Founded in 2010, UrtheCast was an idea spun out of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (TSX:MDA). The company was one of the few Canadian companies to go public in 2013.
The system uses one fixed, medium-resolution camera, capturing a 50-kilometre wide swath of Earth, at a resolution of five metres.
The second is a video camera mounted on a platform that allows it to swivel that can take 90-second high-definition video captures at a resolution of one metre.
Although the general public will be able to view UrtheCast images from the company's website, the company's main customers will be governments and industry.
