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ISS EarthKAM's Home on ISS
On May 6, 2001, the ISS EarthKAM Electronic Still Camera (ESC) was set up on the ISS. We took our first pictures, and began the process of testing our camera and flight software as it interacts with our new home on the Station.
The ISS EarthKAM camera was the first operational payload in the US Laboratory, named Destiny (shown below). Both Destiny and ISS EarthKAM flew in February of 2001, on STS-98 (flight 5A). The aluminum lab is 28 feet long by 14 feet wide and is composed of three cylindrical sections and two endcones, used to mate the lab to the other station components. The crisscross aluminum struts visible in the picture add strength to the hull without adding excessive weight. A debris shield blanket now covers the struts, and a thin aluminum debris shield placed over the blanket adds further protection from the harsh environment of space.
The single 20-inch window, found on one side of the center segment of the lab, is where the Window Observation Research Facility (WORF) will be located. ISS EarthKAM will be the first of several users of the WORF, which is a rack designed to accomodate a variety of Earth observation research. The WORF, which will provide power, communications and other utilities to the payloads, is scheduled to launch on STS-114 in January 2003. The ISS EarthKAM camera will draw power and receive light control from the WORF. The ESC is mounted on a bracket similiar to the one used during previous Shuttle missions; however, the bracket will be modified to accommodate the requirements of both the WORF and its other users. The ESC will be mounted on a motorized bracket, with movement in five directions - lateral, longitudinal, depth and lateral rotation. The flight software will be updated to include commands that allow the bracket to be controlled remotely from the ground.
With the placement of ISS EarthKAM on the International Space Station, students will not have to wait for a Space Shuttle flight. Missions now occur about once every three months, where each participating school is assigned a time period in which they can submit pictures for the camera to take. For more information about involvement in ISS EarthKAM, please visit our Educators section.
ISS EarthKAM's permanent home on the International Space Station will have innumerable effects on the study of Earth Science. The ISS is in the same inclination as was the Russian Space Station, Mir, at an inclination of 51.6 degrees to the Equator. All of ISS EarthKAM's missions took pictures of the Earth from Space Shuttles flying at 51.6 degrees because they docked with Mir. (The only exception was STS-99 in February 2000, when Endeavour flew at a 57-degree inclination.) Images taken on the more recent flights show drastic changes when compared to those taken a few months or years earlier. With regular ISS EarthKAM missions, we will be able to further track the changes made to the Earth. Since the Earth is constantly changing, there will never be two pictures exactly the same.
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