NASA's tvOS app brings live HD video, photos and more to Apple TV
NASA on Wednesday added a tvOS app to its growing stable of digital media properties, bringing high-definition video streams, satellite and telescope imagery, mission updates and more to the living room.
Developed at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, the new app provides big screen access to the administration's vast catalog of digitized content, including on-demand video streaming, NASA Television satellite tracking and more than 15,000 images.
Alongside internet streams of NASA public television and select educational programming is a multimedia module with hooks into a live Ustream feed broadcasting from the International Space Station. Although it sometimes suffers temporary signal loss, the "ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment" on Apple TV is the closest many of us will get to viewing our planet from an orbiting space station.
The included image gallery is equally impressive, with stunning photos of the galaxy and views of Earth taken from above and below the clouds. NASA regularly updates its collection, adding one or two quality shots every day. A separate Earth as Art gallery runs through a slideshow of high-resolution photos depicting unique land formations.
NASA also includes a location-aware tool for calculating ISS flyover times and locations, making it easy for users to plan their next space station sighting. Other app features include 2D and 3D tracking maps for orbiting satellites, information about current and future missions and access to the "Third Rock" internet radio station (currently playing: "Black Sun" by Death Cab for Cutie).
NASA's Apple TV app is available as a free download from the tvOS App Store. Content can also be viewed on iPhone and iPad with NASA's iOS app version.
Developed at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, the new app provides big screen access to the administration's vast catalog of digitized content, including on-demand video streaming, NASA Television satellite tracking and more than 15,000 images.
Alongside internet streams of NASA public television and select educational programming is a multimedia module with hooks into a live Ustream feed broadcasting from the International Space Station. Although it sometimes suffers temporary signal loss, the "ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment" on Apple TV is the closest many of us will get to viewing our planet from an orbiting space station.
The included image gallery is equally impressive, with stunning photos of the galaxy and views of Earth taken from above and below the clouds. NASA regularly updates its collection, adding one or two quality shots every day. A separate Earth as Art gallery runs through a slideshow of high-resolution photos depicting unique land formations.
NASA also includes a location-aware tool for calculating ISS flyover times and locations, making it easy for users to plan their next space station sighting. Other app features include 2D and 3D tracking maps for orbiting satellites, information about current and future missions and access to the "Third Rock" internet radio station (currently playing: "Black Sun" by Death Cab for Cutie).
NASA's Apple TV app is available as a free download from the tvOS App Store. Content can also be viewed on iPhone and iPad with NASA's iOS app version.
Comments
Do you have any idea how expensive and wasteful of resources it would be to provide this kind of imagery if it were real? It wouldn't be a Free App, that I can promise you.