TOKYO—Get ready to see Mars in 8K, as Japanese broadcaster NHK and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are collaborating on a “Super Hi-Vision Camera” that would shoot 4K and 8K images of JAXA’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. JAXA claims that this would be the first time 8K images of Mars and its moons would be taken in close proximity.

The camera is meant to capture UHD images and broadcast them widely with cooperation from JAXA. The images will be taken at regular intervals and partially transmitted to Earth to create a smooth image. The original image data is planned to be stored in a recording device in MMX’s return capsule.

JAXA and NHK have collaborated on different projects dating back to 1992 when it conducted a live broadcast from a space shuttle. This collaboration’s goal is to visualize the actual behavior of the spacecraft with the Super Hi-Vision Camera, combining 4K/8K images with MMX’s flight data. These can also be used for the operation of the spacecraft, JAXA says.

“JAXA and NHK will work together to convey the appeal of a new horizon that has never been seen in detail before, to many people in a vivid and inspiring way,” said JAXA in the announcement.

MMX is expected to launch in JFY 2024.

WASHINGTON—Rodney Grubbs, NASA Imagery Experts Program Manager, will present “More and Better Pixels, How NASA Plans to use HDR, 4K, VR and Other Technologies to Take Everyone Along for the Ride to Mars” at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8, at the Government Video Expo at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. 

Grubbs will discuss how NASA is currently developing plans for human exploration of Mars by the 2030’s. Between now and then, excursions to the Moon and asteroids will provide opportunities to test all the technologies needed for Mars missions. Motion imaging will be crucial to these missions to provide situational awareness, document system performance and share the adventure with the public. The development of High Dynamic Range, cameras with 4K and higher spatial resolution, and Virtual Reality cameras and viewing technologies are all relevant for supporting these NASA missions. Grubbs will present recent VR footage from Mars as well as programming from the NASA’s new UHD Channel and take questions from the audience.

“In the 60’s NASA had to create the technology that took us to the Moon and provided the iconic imagery that allowed us to all experience it live,” Grubbs said. “Our next journeys beyond low Earth orbit will utilize commercial technologies being developed now or on the technology road maps of companies and start-ups.”

Erisa Hines, a driver for the Mars Curiosity rover, based at JPL, talks to participants in "Destination: Mars." (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Microsoft)

As NASA’s Imagery Experts Program Manager, Grubbs is responsible for NASA’s imaging architecture to science, human spaceflight, and public outreach. Grubbs is also chairman of the NASA DTV Working Group and has been a principal investigator for flights of HDTV cameras and related experiments on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, including the first-ever live HDTV program from a spacecraft and first digital cinema camera flown in space. Grubbs chairs the Consultative Committee for Space Data Standards Motion Imagery and Applications Working Group to set standards for video interoperability with other space-faring nations. Grubbs recently led the development of images.nasa.gov, allowing the public to search over 60 NASA imagery collections via a single on-line library.

The Government Video Expo will take place Dec. 6–8, 2016 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Designed for video, broadcast and AV professionals, Government Video Expo features a full exhibit floor, numerous training options, free seminars, keynotes, panel discussions, networking opportunities, and a new educational series of panel discussions.

For more information, visit www.gvexpo.com.

INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—NASA is now making preliminary plans for deep space human exploration, likely starting with development of a presence at a Lagrange point—a sort of parking place in space—and then, after sorties to the Moon or asteroids, embarking on a crewed mission to Mars or one its moons, said Rodney Grubbs of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Grubbs was on hand at the HPA Technology Retreat to reach out to the imaging community, making space geeks swoon in the process.

“NASA and its international partners would of course want to virtually take everyone on Earth along for the ride,” he said. “But the space environment presents many challenges for the use of commercial motion-image technologies.”

Radiation, operation in a vacuum, and extreme temperatures being just the obvious ones. And then there’s getting the imagery from Mars to the public.

With regard to radiation, Grubbs said hi-res cameras sensors on the ISS have been highly susceptible to ionizing radiation damage. Some cameras can have seven to 10 pixels damaged a day. NASA replaces them about once a year.

“JPL spends a lot of money on cameras,” he said.

There have been efforts to create radiation-hardened cameras.
NASA used a Panasonic 3DA1 on the last ISS flight. It had fewer dead pixels.

“We have absolutely no idea why that camera behaved particularly better than other cameras,” he said.

VR/360 cameras offer the advantage of no moving parts. A Red camera was taken to the ISS. NASA hadn’t really played with Bayer-patterned professional cameras before, Grubbs said.

They’ve found that CMOS is less susceptible than CCD. The Japanese Space Agency had an HD camera on a moon probe, Selene. The camera didn’t suffer as much as was expected. It may have involved proximity to the fuel tanks.

The camera glass can also begin to fade or turn yellow.
Also, the cameras have to work in a vacuum if they’re going to be outside, in which case, heat dissipation is a problem since fans are not practical.

And talk about fickle temperatures—in orbit, in daylight, everything is exposed to 260-degrees plus Fahrenheit, and falls to more than minus 260 degrees in darkness.

Also, there are bandwidth constraints, and video requires orders of magnitude more bandwidth than all other communications. Conventional radio frequency transmission takes power and large antennas. Optical offers more bandwidth in bursts, but has problems with availability and aiming of antennas.

With regard to link integrity, conventional two-way IP connections are not practical due to breaks in links and latency between nodes, Grubbs said.

“If you’re in space, you can have all sorts of disruptions. Solar flares, moons… other planets… all sorts of things,” he said.

On the command and control front, ground command of remote cameras, encoders and related systems typically require two-way communications. Think latency between here and Mars.

“This mission will include relay satellites that pass the data and buffer it. It’s designed with long space links in mind. It’s billed as the Internet for the solar system,” Grubbs said.