22nd June 2011

AccelerateAB and UrtheCast Launch

accelerateABIf you’re in Alberta, you are invited to AccelerateAB, presented by The C100, A100, Startup Calgary, StartUp Edmonton, Calgary Technologies, and TEC Edmonton, who have all joined together to present this transformative community event on July 13th at the Roderick Mah Centre for Continuous Learning, Mount Royal University.

Focused on the topic of “Building World Class Companies” this conference will offer Alberta tech entrepreneurs relevant and practical content to grow their companies up to the next level.

digital albertaAlbertans are also invited to the launch of UrtheCast, a multi-country initiative between Canada, Russia and the United Kingdom. UrtheCast is building and will exclusively operate the world’s first ever live streaming HD video camera mounted on the International Space Station (ISS).

Join Digital Alberta and special guest speakers for lunch on June 28th from 11:30am to 1:30pm at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. Come be inspired by Astronaut Dr. David Williams as he discusses space flight, exploration, technology, performance, risk management and environmental stewardship. Tickets for this event are free, but space is limited to 200 attendees.

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UrtheCast will supply video data and imagery of Earth collected by two HD cameras on the Russian module of the Space Station. This data and imagery will be down-linked to ground stations around the planet and then displayed in real time on the Internet and distributed directly to UrtheCast’s exclusive partners and customers.

The UrtheCast web platform will allow Users to constantly track the location of the Space Station, anticipating when it will pass over a particular geographic location. Users will be able to search for videos of a particular location, type, or theme and will have the ability to interact with the HD video feed from the UrtheCast servers. They will be able to zoom in and out, virtually steer the camera from side to side, rewind, and fast forward as they check out areas and things of interest on Earth. UK based Rutherford Appleton Labs is building two high definition cameras. A medium resolution camera will provide a three colour image with a swath of 45 kilometers and a resolution of 5.5 meters. The high-resolution camera will offer a video image with a frame rate of 3.25 frames per second with a resolution that is comparable to much of Google Earth. This will allow Users to see man-made objects and groups of people.

As a result of all this unique functionality, the UrtheCast web platform will spark a great deal of awareness, creativity, and unique user events from around the world. The UrtheCast website will feel like a blend of Google Earth with the video playback and search functionality of YouTube. The UrtheCast web platform will combine a consumer centric website, mobile application for smart phones, and an open Application Program Interface (API). The API enables third party developers to create their own applications and upload them to the UrtheCast web platform.

“Users will be able to view Earth from space. It will operate seamlessly with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter,” explains Scott Larson, President of UrtheCast. ISS is a low orbit, human-inhabited satellite. The station travels at 26,000 km/h, orbiting Earth sixteen times per day, at an altitude of approximately 350 km. The ISS is a collaborative project between the Russian, Canadian European, Japanese, and US space agencies. UrtheCast has signed an exclusive agreement with RSC Energia, who maintains operational control of the Russian segment on the ISS. RSC Energia will take UrtheCast’s cameras, install them on the outside of the ISS, and provide the necessary maintenance and transfer of the data. The cameras are being built by UK based Rutherford Appleton Laboratories (RAL), who is a world leader in building cameras for aerospace and satellite purposes.

“Being part of a project that not only taps into the recent renewed interest in space, but also provides a connection between people and the rest of the world is what is most intriguing about this project,” Richard Holdaway Director, RAL Space.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Events, National News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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