スペースシャトルに載ったハイビジョンカメラ

抄録

In November 1998, the world's first HDTV pictures from space were successfully taken aboard the space shuttle that carried the American hero, Senator John Glenn, and Japanese astronaut, Chiaki Mukai. Various special measures were required to prepare the HDTV camera, with its built-in VCR (HDCAM), for use in the space environment of the shuttle, in order to satisfy all of the safety standards set by NASA. The HDTV pictures taken from the orbit show clear and detailed images of clouds and geographical features of the earth and have been widely acclaimed for their high scientific value. The achievement has expanded the proven possibilities of HDTV as a part of the visual infrastructure of the 21st century space age. We introduce the HDTV images taken from the orbit and also present some technological topics related to this achievement.