Astronauts sometimes say that the view of Earth from the cosmos—a modest floating ball with a whole universe outside its borders—gives you a new perspective on human life. Now anyone with an internet connection can get that same view of the planet from 200 miles above, in HD.Urthecast, one of the crop of startups launching satellites into space to capture high-resolution imagery of the Earth, installed two cameras onto the International Space Station yesterday, a video camera that will capture footage at 1 meter per pixel resolution, and the static camera that will take shots at 5 meters per pixel. That's the same level of detail you’d get if you snapped a photo from a few feet away.Cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazansky took a six-hour space walk to affix the cameras to the spacecraft. NASA got the whole thing on film—check out the video above. The cameras are now sending data back to a Mission Control Central near Moscow. Urthecast plans to run a test phase before releasing any footage, but the images on the company’s website give you an idea of what to expect.Companies like Skybox and Planet Labs are also using space-based cameras to get images and video of the globe in unprecedented detail. Skybox is also selling Big Data analytics and insights gleaned from its real-time surveillance; Planet Labs has a fleet of 28 microsatellites, similar to CubeSats, that will monitor the planet from low orbit.But Urthcast's story is pretty unique. When it was first starting out, it piqued the curiosity of the Russian spy agency, the RKA, who got in touch with the Canadian company and offered up its segment of the Space Station, provided it got to keep all the images of Russia. Once partnered up with Russia, the company raised millions of dollars to install the cameras onto the spacecraft—which, as you'd imagine, is not an easy thing to do. Cosmonauts tried and failed in December; yesterday's space walk was the second try, and was successful.Like the other spy satellites, Urthecast will rent out the cameras for a price. Businesses or governments with deep enough pockets can commission detailed HD imagery of certain parts of the globe. It can be used to monitor forests, animal migration, factories, and so on.Getting this level of quality images from space is definitely a landmark moment for satellite photography. But there’s something unsettling about being watched from above ‘round the clock. The ISS cameras are capable of capturing objects as small as cars, boats, and groups of people from orbit—but not individuals, the company said. Not yet, at least. Another comforting detail: The deal between Urthecast and Russia's space agency specifies that the cameras can only be used for peaceful purposes.Above images via Urthecast
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