By 
August 2nd, 2024
Headed to a Sphere near you.
Image credit: Sphere Entertainment
One of over 20 payloads ready to set sail to the International Space Station (ISS) is an ultra-high-resolution, single-sensor camera.
“Big Sky” is developed by Sphere Entertainment. The captured content is an initiative of the group that is providing next-generation entertainment in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first Sphere venue opened in Las Vegas in September 2023.
A first phase of the effort launched in November 2022. It was a commercial off-the-shelf camera that collected baseline information while astronauts tested the camera’s use in space.
Image credit: Sphere Entertainment
Ultra-sharp
The upcoming second phase will see Big Sky capture content for Sphere, tested inside the ISS.
This Big Sky payload features the world’s largest image sensor and ultra-sharp cinematic lenses, promising to capture detailed, large-format images. The upcoming flight of the hardware is to help validate camera functioning, its operation in space, and also verify a video downlink of Big Sky output.
Sphere Entertainment and their Las Vegas complex has already been home where foremost artists, creators, and technologists create experiences to take storytelling and viewing audiences to places both real and imagined.
The Sphere Entertainment payload is onboard Northrop Grumman’s 21st Commercial Resupply Services (NG-21) mission, slated for liftoff no earlier than Saturday, August 3.
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is pictured attached to the Canadarm2 robotic arm ahead of its release from the ISS on July 12, 2024.
Image credit: NASA
Posted in Space News
