Canon Introduced Space Experience at the CES 2021 with a Site That Let's You Take Pictures from Real Satellite

Sieeka Khan, Tech Times 15 January 2021, 09:01 am

Canon showed something different at the CES 2021, instead of releasing new cameras, the company lets users take pictures from space.

Canon has unveiled an interactive site that allows people to use its CE-SAT-1 satellite that has a lightly modified 5D Mark III DSLR, to get simulated pictures of locations including the Bahamas, New York City and Dubai.

Canon let's you take pictures from real satellite

Canon launched the microsatellite back in June 2017. The said satellite is as big as a wine barrel and it holds an EOS 5D Mark III camera that is fitted with a 40cm Cassegrain-type 370mm telescope mirror.

The said satellite is orbiting at a 600 km orbit or 375 miles, it gives about a 36-inch ground resolution within a 3x2 mile frame, according to Canon. To compare, the world's highest-resolution satellite, the WorldView-4, can resolve down to 12 inches. The satellite also caters to PowerShot S110 that is used for wider images.

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The interactive demo from Canon allows you to take images from multiple locations, with each shot showing the location and the altitude of the image you took.

However, it uses pre-captured imagery, which means you are not actually grabbing live or unique photos. If it was live capture, CE-SAT-1 would be orbiting around the Earth at almost 17,000 miles per hour, circling around in just an hour and a half. The demonstration does give you an idea of the capabilities and the resolution of the satellite.

The experience is narrated by astronaut Marsha Ivins, who then explains everything about the satellite's purpose and design. The microsatellites are much smaller and they are much cheaper than regular satellites, and Canon wishes to build a billion dollar business around them by 2030.

After launching the CE-SAT-1 back in 2017, Canon also tried to launch CE-SAT-1B in 2020. However, the said satellite was lost when RocketLab's Electron rocket failed minutes after it was launched.

Canon's CE-SAT-1B

In July 2020, Canon announced they were going to launch the CE-SAT-IB satellite camera, which was set to included as one of the six other satellites aboard RocketLab's Electron vehicle as part of its mission.

The mission named "Pics or It Didn't Happen" didn't go as planned as it was reported then that all payloads were destroyed during its ascent because of a rocket failure.

According to RocketLab, the Electron vehicle which housed Canon's Earth-imaging camera and six other satellites was not able to take its journey from Mahia Peninsula on North Island, New Zealand.

In a Twitter post that was shared on July 4, 2021, Peter Beck, the CEO of RocketLab, apologized to the consumers stating that he is sorry that they failed to deliver the satellites and that they would correct and fix the issue and launch again.

The specific cause was not shared at the time, but in the launch video, which was live-streamed for the world to see, shows the video feed from the rocket cutting out just six minutes into its flight. Not long after, a team member can be heard saying that there was mishap.