The International Space Station (ISS) sports an extraordinary optical quality window - the best ever flown on a piloted spacecraft. Missing at NASA, however, is clarity of vision regarding full use of this unique porthole on the world.
The optical-quality window in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory became part of the orbiting outpost in February 2001. Since that time, ISS crews have become snap happy, picking their shots of Earth using digital still cameras, 35-mm and 70-mm cameras, and making use of a range of lenses.
The eye-catching result? The first three resident space station crews clicked nearly 13,500 pictures of our planet. In the process, a new standard has been set for Earth photography. An analysis of the images found that objects less than 20 feet (6 meters) across on Earth can be resolved using cameras onboard the high-flying ISS.
Clearly, scientists can use the ISS as a platform from which to study the workings of our world, regularly monitoring very small features and change around the globe.
Despite the promise of ISS Earth imagery from on high, little is being done within NASA itself to push for expansive use of the optical window or the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF) program that is slated to be launched next year.
One irony is that the JSC Earth imagery database, itself, is under budgetary attack, recently zeroed out by the space shuttle and space station programs.
Moreover, according to SPACE.com sources -- both inside and outside NASA -- the space agency's own Office of Earth Science has shown little interest in ISS optical window and WORF utilization.
"The very part of NASA that should see value in the ISS as a remote sensing platform is ignoring this capability. Instead of small Earth remote sensing payloads installed on the station, they seem to prefer far more costly, large satellite platforms," said one observer. "Meanwhile, the space station is in the doghouse. In order to get cash, the program has been eating its science funds. What's happening here is that a resource-starved and science-starved ISS produces an unexpectedly good result anywayonly to stomp on it," the source said.
Through the looking glass
Critics have repeatedly blasted the mega-expensive ISS as to its scientific usefulness. A budget overhaul of the station now underway is likely to rein in its scientific output over the next several years.
However, picture taking through the special 20-inch-diameter window may have already proven to be a boon to Earth science researchers. Sophisticated telescopes, cameras, and remote sensing instruments aimed out the window catch views of more than 75 percent of Earth's surface.
In fact, an Earth remote sensing experiment currently being conducted aboard the ISS -- called Crew Earth Observations -- is already yielding significant data returns. That is the report from Julie Robinson and Cynthia Evans of Lockheed Martin's Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas.
The two Earth imaging experts point out that a huge database of nearly 400,000 Earth photographs has been amassed at JSC. This archive of images spans several decades, including snapshots from the early Gemini days up to space shuttle missions. Also present and accounted for are photos taken by U.S. astronauts who visited Russia's Mir space station, prior to its deorbiting demise.
Level of detail
Robinson and Evans spelled out early results from ISS crew observations in a recent edition of the American Geophysical Union journal: Eos Transactions.
The sharpness of the photographs taken by station astronauts "has surprised both crew members and scientists on the ground," Robinson and Evans note, "and has changed our view of the level of detail that can be recorded by humans from orbit."
Camera-toting ISS crewmembers have shown an ability to compensate for the relative motion of the Earth. As a result, Robinson and Evans note that the spatial resolution of the images approaches the highest spatial resolution of color images now available from commercial remote sensing satellites.
Already in development are electronic and mechanical motion compensation strategies. They will augment the work of a variety of remote sensing instruments that can peer through the ISS high-quality window.
Experimental Earth observing gear can be operated and serviced by shirt-sleeved ISS crewmembers. No need to "space harden" devices like those flown on unpiloted spacecraft. Thats a money-saver.
Robinson and Evans predict that high-resolution imaging of the Earth from the ISS "should soon be commonplace."
For Dean Eppler, WORF project scientist at SAIC in Houston, Texas, there's no doubt that Earth remote sensing from the ISS will blossom in the near future.
The WORF taps into a variety of ISS services -- power, cooling, and data handling -- making it possible to operate a range of cameras and sensors mounted in front of the window. It also provides an extremely dark enclosure to eliminate glare off the viewing port, Eppler said, and gives astronauts a stable platform from which to conduct Earth observations. "It'll make the job of handheld picture taking much easier," he said.
Eppler told SPACE.com that he anticipates multiple users -- civilian and government -- will be hungry to take advantage of WORF and the ISS window.
"We're relatively new to the station program. Not everybody understands what the capabilities are for using this ISS facility. I have no doubt that this exceptional window and the WORF will become a valuable tool for various research communities," Eppler said.
There is some hope that new NASA chief, Sean O'Keefe, is becoming more attune to ISS research woes. He has asked that all disciplines across the agency take a hard look at how the space station might serve their diverse needs and objectives.
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