If 3D movies and virtual reality games are not giving a high, it is time to switch to something real. Opportunity is being provided by none other than NASA.
NASA plans to stream a live 360-degree video of a rocket heading outwards after blastoff, escaping gravity and entering space. This real-life 360-degree action can be enjoyed on NASA's YouTube channel.
According to First Coast News, it is for the first time that NASA has taken the initiative to popularize its missions. The live streaming will cover the launch of an unmanned Atlas rocket that is transporting the space station supplies. It will blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
This spectacular 360-degree video of the liftoff will begin streaming 10 minutes before its scheduled time of launch, that is 11:11 a.m. The video will certainly give the thrills and feeling of being physically present at the launch pad.
This 360-degree video has been made possible by the skillful and well-coordinated placement of cameras. At the periphery of the launch pad, four fisheye lens cameras have been installed at a distance of just 300 feet (100 meters) from the rocket.
The four cameras are well-coordinated by a computer that has been placed in a blast-proof box. The computer will receive the clips from these cameras and piece them together to give an astonishing 360-degree surround view in the form of a streaming video on the NASA YouTube channel. A time lag of about a minute can be expected to view this coverage.
Global News quoted Vern Thorp, a program manager for United Launch Alliance (rocket manufacturer), thus: "It's great, I mean, to be able to get in there and experience that 360-degree view." How this viewing is different from conventional videos is it gives a whole new perspective to a never-done-before video recording by NASA.
It is not that 360-degree video streaming was done for the first time. United Launch Alliance had released it on two previous occasions, but they were not live. But, NASA's ingenuity has taken streaming video to a new high.
