You might have a 4K television or display, but what content is really worthy of that kind of resolution? Sports? Pfft. Netflix shows? Ha. But how about space? According to people who’ve been there (who are probably best positioned to know), there’s nothing quite like the view from outside the Earth’s atmosphere, so it might finally make a fitting subject for your pixel-dense screens, when Amazon Web Services and NASA broadcast the first 4K live stream from space on April 26.
The live stream will take place at 10:30 AM PDT (1:30 PM EDT) on the 26th, as part of a show from the annual NAB convention for broadcasters, as reported by Variety. It’ll also be made available afterwards as a 4K recording from NASA’s website directly. The AWS stream will feature a conversation between NASA’s Dr. Peggy Whitson on the station, and an AWS executive at NAB, and basically be used to show off AWS’ new Elemental encoding software. A conversation is a great demo for emphasizing real-time performance, but this sets the stage for more impressive visual fidelity on a range of space-based broadcast subjects.
NASA’s also pumped about the new capability because of what it means for real-time remote observation of space from terrestrial monitoring stations, where scientists will be able to see greater detail in live streams broadcast back from orbital cameras.