Station Keeps Eye on Wilma

Station Keeps Eye on Wilma


Aboard the space station, Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery
Tokarev are quickly acclimating themselves to their new home in space,
conducting experiments and performing routine maintenance. Scheduled
activities this week for the crew include renal stone experiment data
collection and the replacement of a trajectory control system unit panel in
the Pirs Docking Compartment.

Mission Control in Houston took advantage of the station's cameras this
morning to capture video of Hurricane Wilma as it churns through the
Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center warns that Wilma is a potentially
"catastrophic" category five hurricane.

On Tuesday, flight controllers initiated the first of two 11-minute,
40-second engine firings from a docked Progress spacecraft to increase the
station's altitude by about 8 statute miles. Less than two minutes after the
first firing began, the reboost was aborted due to a problem with the
Progress' thrusters. The second burn was not attempted. Russian flight
controllers are investigating the situation, and the aborted reboost will
have no impacts on station operations.

--
--------------

Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info

Is there the slightest scientific or practical value to such sight-seeing,
is it it just geewhizzing to get on television?


"Jacques van Oene" wrote
Station Keeps Eye on Wilma

Mission Control in Houston took advantage of the station's cameras this
morning to capture video of Hurricane Wilma as it churns through the
Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center warns that Wilma is a potentially
"catastrophic" category five hurricane.

Jim Oberg wrote:
Is there the slightest scientific or practical value to such sight-seeing,
is it it just geewhizzing to get on television?


"Jacques van Oene" wrote
Station Keeps Eye on Wilma

Mission Control in Houston took advantage of the station's cameras this
morning to capture video of Hurricane Wilma as it churns through the
Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center warns that Wilma is a potentially
"catastrophic" category five hurricane.

I can imagine some: different angle/pespective than the weather
satellites allowing improved 3-dimensional modelling; different filters
to highlight features not normally seen in weather satellite images,
framed copies for the Congressional delegation....

/dps

"snidely" wrote
I can imagine some: different angle/pespective than the weather
satellites allowing improved 3-dimensional modelling; different filters
to highlight features not normally seen in weather satellite images,
framed copies for the Congressional delegation....


Off-vertical views can be useful, but has any meteorologist
actually said it improved the understanding of such storms?

And as opposed to weatherbirds, ISS catches sporadic
views at random angles and illumination -- can the images
be properly evaluated and compared/contrasted?

The headline itself is bogus, of course. The ISS is not
'keeping' an eye on Wilma, it is glancing at it once or twice
a day, when the crew isn't busy. The impression that the
ISS is hovoring above the storm measuring it intensely
is NASA PAO hype for the mindless, or am I being too cynical?

'Different filters' can't refer to ISS television images, can it?
Do they HAVE different filters? Hand-held cameras DO...
see below:

If you look at NASA WATCH's ISS On-Orbit Status reports
(http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=18428)
October 19 has no report of any earth viewing,
and October 18 does mention it:
"Today's CEO photo targets, ..., were Hurricane Wilma, Caribbean Sea

[Dynamic Event. This late-season storm was predicted to reach

Category 1 strength by the time of this ISS overpass. The crew was

advised to look to the left of track for cloud banding and eye features),..]
....."

Jim Oberg wrote:
"snidely" wrote
I can imagine some: different angle/pespective than the weather
satellites allowing improved 3-dimensional modelling; different filters
to highlight features not normally seen in weather satellite images,
framed copies for the Congressional delegation....


Off-vertical views can be useful, but has any meteorologist
actually said it improved the understanding of such storms?

Dunno...perhaps there's been some feedback from last year's shots of
Frank and Ida. Hurricane watchers don't post here often, AIUI, so my
access is rather filtered.

And as opposed to weatherbirds, ISS catches sporadic
views at random angles and illumination -- can the images
be properly evaluated and compared/contrasted?

Maybe. I was speculating, of course.


The headline itself is bogus, of course. The ISS is not
'keeping' an eye on Wilma, it is glancing at it once or twice
a day, when the crew isn't busy. The impression that the
ISS is hovoring above the storm measuring it intensely
is NASA PAO hype for the mindless, or am I being too cynical?


A certain amount of cynicism is healthy; I'm not sure if your CI
(cynicsim index) is above the safe threshold or not, though "PAO" as an
input can raise that threshold ;-)

'Different filters' can't refer to ISS television images, can it?
Do they HAVE different filters? Hand-held cameras DO...
see below:


The permanently mounted external cameras or arm cameras may have
filters for specific tasks, a la Spirit and Opportunity, but I've not
checked the documentation to see if they do. Are these what were
beinging used for Wilma? My impression of the released photo was that
it was an ESC image from the window.

/dps

snidely wrote:
[...]
Dunno...perhaps there's been some feedback from last year's shots of
Frank and Ida. Hurricane watchers don't post here often, AIUI, so my
access is rather filtered.

Uhhh, Frank and *Ivan*

/dps

snidely wrote:
snidely wrote:
[...]
Dunno...perhaps there's been some feedback from last year's shots of
Frank and Ida. Hurricane watchers don't post here often, AIUI, so my
access is rather filtered.

Uhhh, Frank and *Ivan*


Should have checked better,

*Frances* and Ivan.

Maybe I can handle Alberto and WIlliam next go-around.

/dps

If I were in the hurricane forecasting business, I would want every scrap of
information I could get. These storms have major impacts on life in this
country. Having two live people making regular observations is something
that I (as taxpayer) am quite willing to pay for.
-----------------------------------

"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...

"snidely" wrote
I can imagine some: different angle/pespective than the weather
satellites allowing improved 3-dimensional modelling; different filters
to highlight features not normally seen in weather satellite images,
framed copies for the Congressional delegation....


Off-vertical views can be useful, but has any meteorologist
actually said it improved the understanding of such storms?

And as opposed to weatherbirds, ISS catches sporadic
views at random angles and illumination -- can the images
be properly evaluated and compared/contrasted?

The headline itself is bogus, of course. The ISS is not
'keeping' an eye on Wilma, it is glancing at it once or twice
a day, when the crew isn't busy. The impression that the
ISS is hovoring above the storm measuring it intensely
is NASA PAO hype for the mindless, or am I being too cynical?

'Different filters' can't refer to ISS television images, can it?
Do they HAVE different filters? Hand-held cameras DO...
see below:

If you look at NASA WATCH's ISS On-Orbit Status reports
(http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=18428)
October 19 has no report of any earth viewing,
and October 18 does mention it:
"Today's CEO photo targets, ..., were Hurricane Wilma, Caribbean Sea

[Dynamic Event. This late-season storm was predicted to reach

Category 1 strength by the time of this ISS overpass. The crew was

advised to look to the left of track for cloud banding and eye
features),..] ...."

Jim Oberg wrote:

Is there the slightest scientific or practical value to such sight-seeing,
is it it just geewhizzing to get on television?


Do weather satellites provide "video" coverage as they pass over a
region, or do thei just provide snapshots at regular intervals ?

The advantage for the human tended cameras is that they can aim the
cameras to show the relevant portions of the area below, as opposed to a
"blind" satellite pass that has the camera aimed straight down.

I don't think that by themselves, the ISS images provide spacial data.
But when combined with satellite imaging from a different angle,
especially if done at about the same time, it could yield a lot more
data because of the combination of images gives more than just 2d data.

Hi Ho Silver wrote:
If I were in the hurricane forecasting business, I would want every scrap of
information I could get. These storms have major impacts on life in this
country. Having two live people making regular observations is something
that I (as taxpayer) am quite willing to pay for

I'm not. Putting automatic camera is 1000 times cheaper. For a fraction
of shuttle/space station cost US can launch 100s weather satellites
giving the view from any view possible.

Or you assume those expensive space hotel maintenance technicans can be
more useful than just holding the camera?