NASA, Microsoft Launch Collaboration With Immersive Photography
- From: baalke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2007 12:18:39 -0700
Aug. 6, 2007
Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4769
allard.beutel@xxxxxxxx
Jonas Dino
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-5612/207-3280
jdino@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Kathy Gill
Microsoft Live Labs, Redmond, Wash.
503-443-7000
grey.hautaluoma-1@xxxxxxxx
RELEASE: 07-170
NASA, MICROSOFT LAUNCH COLLABORATION WITH IMMERSIVE PHOTOGRAPHY
WASHINGTON - On Monday, NASA and Microsoft Corporation of Redmond,
Wash., released an interactive, 3-D photographic collection of the
space shuttle Endeavour preparing for its upcoming mission to the
International Space Station. Endeavour is scheduled to launch from
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Aug. 8 at 6:36
p.m. EDT.
For the first time, people around the world can view hundreds of high
resolution photographs of Endeavour, Launch Pad 39A, and the Vehicle
Assembly Building at Kennedy in a unique 3-D viewer. NASA and
Microsoft's Live Labs team developed the online experience using
hundreds of photographs and a photo imaging technology called
Photosynth. Using a click-and-drag interface, viewers can zoom in to
see intimate details of the shuttle booster rockets or zoom out for a
more global view of the launch facility. The software uses
photographs from standard digital cameras to construct a 3-D view
that can be navigated and explored online. The NASA images can be
viewed at Microsoft's Live Labs at:
http://labs.live.com
"This collaboration with Microsoft gives the public a new way to
explore and participate in America's space program," said William
Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Space Operations,
Washington. "We're also looking into using this new technology to
support future missions."
"With Photosynth, we take pictures of an environment and knit them
together into an experience that people can move through like a 3-D
video game," said Microsoft Live Labs Architect Blaise Aguera y
Arcas. "NASA provided us with some outstanding images, and the result
is an experience that will wow anyone wanting to get a closer look at
NASA's missions."
The NASA collections were created in collaboration between
Microsoft's
Live Lab, Kennedy and NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
Calif.
"We see potential to use Photosynth for a variety of future mission
activities, from inspecting the International Space Station and the
Hubble Space Telescope to viewing landing sites on the moon and
Mars," said Chris C. Kemp, director of Strategic Business Development
at Ames.
Photosynth was created in collaboration between Microsoft and the
University of Washington. The software combines hundreds or thousands
of regular digital photos of a scene to present a detailed 3-D model
of a subject, giving viewers the sensation of smoothly gliding around
the scene from every angle. A collection can be constructed using
photos from a single source or multiple sources. The NASA Photosynth
collection also includes the return of the space shuttle Atlantis to
the Kennedy Shuttle Landing Facility from Edwards Air Force Base,
Calif., in July.
Microsoft Live Labs is an applied research organization focused on
the
incubation of innovative, Internet technologies to improve and
accelerate the next evolution of Microsoft's Internet products and
services.
For more information about space shuttle Endeavour's STS-118 mission,
visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
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