UrtheCast Releases World's First Full-Color HD Videos Of Earth From Space
Videos of London, Boston, and Barcelona showcase life on Earth viewed from the International Space Station.
VANCOUVER, June 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - UrtheCast Corp. (TSX:UR) ("UrtheCast" or the "Company"), the Earth Observation (EO) company aiming to open the world to anyone with an internet connection, today announced that it has released the first-ever, full-color HD videos of Earth, filmed from the International Space Station (ISS) at roughly one-meter resolution.
Captured by UrtheCast's Ultra HD camera, Iris, from aboard the ISS, the release of the 'First Light' video footage reinforces the Company's mission to democratize the Earth Observation industry — with the vision of providing the world with a new, dynamic perspective on our evolving planet.
Videos of London, Boston, and Barcelona were today released worldwide on the Company's website, blog.urthecast.com. Showcasing daily life and revealing the diverse nature of our remarkable planet, the videos display the unique utility of UrtheCast's unprecedented technology.
Ranging in length from 34 to 47 seconds, and covering areas of up to 1.19 x 0.67 miles (1.92 x 1.08 kms), the Iris camera has captured 'First Light' videos of unparalleled data:
- London, England
- Boston, United States
- Barcelona, Spain
"Today, we are continuing our advancement towards democratizing the Earth Observation industry, making timely Earth video and imagery from space accessible to everyone," explained Scott Larson, UrtheCast Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "With the ultimate goal of connecting the planet and highlighting what unites us all, we're revealing a perspective of Earth from space that was previously reserved for a small few. By opening up our API to the web development community, we're providing collaboration tools that will help people monitor, protect, and benefit our world and will lead to the democratization of Earth Observation imagery."
Wade Larson, UrtheCast Co-founder, President and Chief Operating Officer, added: "We are realizing UrtheCast's mission to bring something really quite unique to the Earth Observation industry. With today's video release, we continue to move towards being able to deliver fast, scalable, and affordable Earth Observation imagery to our customers, and ultimately broadening the market appeal and utility of space-based remote sensing."
The achievement of Initial Operation Capability (IOC) status of the Ultra HD Iris camera is expected to occur in the summer of 2015, and will compliment the existing Medium-Resolution Camera (MRC), Theia, which reached IOC status in 2014 and is actively filling orders for imagery and data.
About UrtheCast Corp.
UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that is developing the world's first Ultra HD video feed of Earth, streamed from space in full color. Working with prominent aerospace partners from across the globe, UrtheCast has built, launched, installed, and will soon operate its Ultra HD video camera, Iris, on the ISS alongside its MRC which reached IOC in 2014. Video and still image data captured by the cameras will be downlinked to ground stations across the planet and displayed on the UrtheCast web platform, or distributed directly to partners and customers. UrtheCast's cameras will provide Ultra HD video and still imagery of Earth that will allow for monitoring of the environment, humanitarian relief, social events, agricultural land, etc. Common shares of UrtheCast trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ticker 'UR'.
About UrtheCast's High-Resolution HRC Camera, Iris
The HRC is a multispectral imager mounted on a bi-axial pointing platform that provides a pitch/roll pointing capability to image points between ±52 degrees latitude. This allows it to capture full-color video sequences approximately 60 seconds in length through a wide range of oblique-look angles. Upon reaching IOC, video captured from UrtheCast's HRC will be made available on an individual basis and also processed and constantly streamed to the interactive UrtheCast web platform.
About UrtheCast's Medium-Resolution MRC Camera, Theia
UrtheCast's MRC, Theia, is a conventional linear Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) pushbroom camera. It produces strips of medium-resolution, 4-channel multispectral imagery with a GSD of approximately 5m and a swath width of approximately 50km. Theia's daily collection capability is approximately 29-million km².
Forward Looking Information
This release contains certain information which, as presented, constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information involves statements that relate to future events and often addresses expected future business and financial performance, containing words such as "plan" or "expect", statements that an action or event "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions and includes, but is not limited to, statements about the commissioning of the HRC and the timing thereof, plans to operate camera components on, and stream video footage from, the ISS, proposed image and video product offerings, expectations regarding the growth of commercial operations and expected partners and customers. Forward-looking statements and information are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the ability of UrtheCast to control or predict, and which may cause UrtheCast's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, including, but not limited to, damage which may have occurred to the HRC and MRC cameras during launch or installation, delays in the commissioning process, , unexpected changes in Russian or Canadian government policies, as well as those factors discussed in the Company's annual information form dated March 20, 2015, (the "AIF") and the Company's amended and restated short form base shelf prospectus dated May 11, 2015 (the "Prospectus") which are available under UrtheCast's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information is developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein, in the AIF and Prospectus, and as otherwise disclosed from time to time on UrtheCast's SEDAR profile.
Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and UrtheCast undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as may be required by applicable Canadian securities laws. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.
SOURCE UrtheCast Corp.
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