Four Sony digital video cameras attached to the outside and inside structures of a Boeing Delta IV rocket will provide blast off footage as it climbs through outer atmospheric limits into space from Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Nov. 16.
The launch of the Delta IV follows almost two dozen other launches featuring the Ecliptic Enterprises' RocketCam systems, each of which used a Sony XC-999 miniature color video camera to generate live, full-color video from onboard the rocket.
The RocketCam camera, which incorporates the Sony video cameras, is designed to make viewers feel like they are on the rocket watching it pull away from earth. The perspective of the Earth shrinking below as the rocket ascends is different than other techniques, such as ground-based camera track rockets, used to follow launches.
Ecliptic is currently engineering a RocketCam product line based on Sony's XC-555 miniature video camera, which includes a more sensitive CCD chip, improved iris functions, more integrated internal electronics and external interfacing features in a smaller, lighter package.
The Delta IV Medium 4.2 rocket will carry a telecommunications satellite for Eutelsat S.A. of France into orbit.
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