A Russian Progress freighter has been launched to the International Space Station with UK-built Earth observation cameras on board.
The cameras were built by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire for Canadian startup UrtheCast, which hopes to build its business around space station imagery.
One of the two cameras is a high-resolution video camera, which can pick out details as small as a metre across from 400km high, and deliver short videos of the Earth’s surface up to 150 times per day.
Hi-res videos could prove useful for news organisations that require moving pictures of major events, including war zones and regions of the Earth experiencing natural disasters.
The second camera will record static imagery, giving a resolution of 5m per pixel.
Upon their deployment at the rear of the space station by astronauts next month, both cameras are anticipated to be operational in the New Year and will send footage of Earth to UrtheCast’s interactive web platform.
The company said in a statement: "The launch of our cameras marks a giant leap for UrtheCast
"Once they’re installed on the ISS and the platform goes live, you’ll be able to view Earth as you’ve never seen it before, while the platform showcases footage of the globe and helps you tour around your favourite locales."
