AgCam

[GeauxSioux]

AgCam activated aboard International Space Station

The Agricultural Camera, AgCam, has been set up and is getting closer to becoming fully operations. In a two-day joint operation between astronauts aboard the International Space Station, NASA personnel and AgCam team members on the UND campus, the camera was assembled and installed.

AgCam Project Lead Doug Olsen and the rest of the team were in constant contact with NASA operations personnel and connected to the astronauts via a live video feed giving them and passersby anunprecedented and unique look into the microgravity environment aboard the station.

[GeauxSioux]

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 20 April 2009

Continuing his setup support of the new AgCam (Agricultural Camera) payload in the Lab, FE-1 Barratt today rotated the AgCam MRB (Microgravity Rack Barrier) through 180 deg. [This aligned the Light Shield with the PDC (Power/Data Controller) light shield, allowing air from the fans in the PDC to exhaust into the main cabin. The Agricultural Camera is a multi-spectral camera for use on the ISS as a payload of the WORF (Window Observational Research Facility). Primary AgCam system components include an Imaging System Assembly, a Base Mount Pointing Assembly, a Power/Data Controller, associated cabling and support items, and a NASA-supplied A31p laptop and power supply. It will take frequent images, in visible and infrared light, of vegetated areas on the Earth, principally of growing crops, rangeland, grasslands, forests, and wetlands in the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. Images will be delivered within 2 days directly to requesting farmers, ranchers, foresters, natural resource managers and tribal officials to help improve their environmental stewardship of the land for which they are responsible. Images will also be shared with educators for classroom use. The Agricultural Camera was built and will be operated primarily by students and faculty at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND.]