The Planetary Society Blog
By Emily Lakdawalla
IKAROS' deployable camera captures perfect sail photos and animation!
Jun. 15, 2010 | 18:50 PDT | Jun. 16 01:50 UTC
EDIT 10:35 PM: Animation added at the bottom of this post.
I've been watching and waiting for these photos for days! We've already seen IKAROS' view of its deployed sails from cameras attached to the spacecraft, but, in a brilliant idea, the Japanese built IKAROS with two deployable cameras that could view the thing from a distance. They're two tiny little things, I think only about 5 centimeters across, that just get shot out (gently) from the spacecraft and wirelessly transmit their photos to it. And such photos! So cool!
First, a closeup: IKAROS spacecraft from DCAM2DCAM2 is a tiny camera deployed by IKAROS to photograph its sail after deployment; it captured this view after sail deployment was complete, transmitting the images wirelessly to the spacecraft. Credit: JAXA |
And here's the money shot, the distant view -- so square, exactly as it should be! Awesome.IKAROS sail from DCAM2One of the deployable cameras on IKAROS shows the IKAROS solar sail fully deployed. Credit: JAXA |
Here's a diagram showing where the cameras were positioned on the spacecraft, and a closeup of the tiny things. In the first picture I posted above, you can see the hole on the spacecraft where the camera came from.Location of DCAM1 and DCAM2 on IKAROSCredit: JAXA |
So cool! That's all the analysis I have time for -- it's the kids' bathtime -- but I'll write more tomorrow.
EDIT: One more thing to add before going to bed: an animation, taken by DCAM2 as it receded from the sail (from here). Again, so cool.DCAM2's view of IKAROS
A 32-frame animation from the deployable camera DCAM2 on IKAROS. The camera rotated as it receded, producing the apparent spin of the sail. Credit: JAXA |
Comments
This comment form is powered by GentleSource Comment Script. It can be included in PHP or HTML files and allows visitors to leave comments on the website.
| 
[The flaring up glare following the sail, presumably from the sail turning into the sun from its ever smaller angular perspective it makes on the camera field, would indicate that the sun is in the wrong direction for that though. But for some reason the mylar film is a less efficient transparent one, and the undecided reflection/transmission possibilities from several material interfaces makes everything confusing for the untrained eye.
Look forward to a professional analysis. :-)]
In any case, awesome.
@ Tony: Untethered at a guess, otherwise the wireless connection seems overkill.
I've always felt that every spacecraft should have a camera capable of inspecting itself as part of maintenance. (I know...weight)
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/photos/science/science/100621/scn1006211020006-p2.jpg
There is no wire between Micro cameras and IRAROS.
http://translate.google.de/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.isas.jaxa.jp%2Fhome%2FIKAROS-blog%2F&sl=ja&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8
cheers
We could beat Voyager 1 to the nearest star in just decades with those kinds of probes.
English part is as google created it, Italian part is a manual attempt of "proper" translation from Englis. Don't know how accurate the result can be...
http://win98.altervista.org/Ikaros.doc