Dish Does Earth Day
Today is Earth Day and the folks at Dish Network are going to do something special for their subscribers today, they are going to let them watch Mother Earth live from around 22,237 miles in space.
Sources have told me that Dish Network plans to launch a new channel today called “Dish Earth” on channel 212. This channel beams live from the Echostar 11 satellite at the 110 Degree West Orbital location in outer space.
Echostar 11 is the first and only commercial satellite in geosynchronous orbit with a camera offering live video of the Earth.
The plan to put a camera on a satellite took over 6 years of conception and testing. Echostar 11 launched on July 15th at 10:21 PM PDT via the Odyssey Launch Platform positioned on the equator.
On board the satellite there are two identical cameras mounted. The cameras are shielded by a protective aluminum casing. The cameras have a 12mm focal length lenses. Output of the cameras is 720 x 486 pixels NTSC. The cameras send on image every 15 seconds. All images sent via the cameras are archived at Echostar’s uplink facility in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Again Dish Network customers will be able to view images from space this afternoon on Dish Network channel 212.
To celebrate Earth Day, Dish Network has partnered together with a company called “Give The World” to give away free customized photos of The Earth for the day. All Earth Day you will be able to “Give the World” to friends by visiting http://www.givetheworld.com/earthday.asp.
According to Charles Chafer whom is the CEO of “Give The World” parent company Space Services Inc. “The photos taken by Dish Network’s Earth Watch camera remind us all of the need to care for our home planet.”
This is an important message for all of us, we should all work together to take care of our home.
Happy Earth Day Everyone!
jd commented:
I think the almost real time images from the geostationary satellite are great, especially at the times when there is only "junk" on regular TV. I hope Dish leaves Earth 212 in place for a long time.
tm commented:
Its a nice stunt. But it doesnt remind me to take care of the earth we hae been waitching earth views on NASA since the 90s whats the big deal.
It is not the only camera on a satellite since the space station is also a satellite.
I see no "important message for all of us" what it remidens me of is that Junk science has taken over earth day.
