Shuttle To Dock Today-Sparkles In The Video Shots??

[Pixl]

First, a CP from NASA.

The crew of space shuttle Discovery awoke at 6:53 a.m. EST to the song “Woody’s Roundup” written by Randy Newman and performed by Riders in the Sky, played for Alvin Drew.

Today is docking day in space. The terminal initiation burn at 11:33 a.m. will put the shuttle on the final course to link up with the International Space Station at 2:16 p.m.

Question: Some of the shots from space occasionally have old fashioned sparkles when the signal fades, both during the launch and now on the approach to the ISS. I would think if they are using digital transmissions it would pixelate. The sparkles suggest analog transmissions. Are they not able to use digital from these fast moving spacecrafts?

Jim

 

[ParaclipseCKu]

Not sure about the approach to ISS but the shot of the external tank during launch was likely analog so they would still have video during signal fade. Just a guess on my part!

Phil

 

[Tron]

There is some analog in the signal path used on NASA-TV, but often what looks like analog noise is actually noise caused by the automatic gain control on some of the cameras used. For example, when the shuttle/station go into darkness, the picture quickly becomes noisy with what looks like snow. This is caused by the AGC circuits in the cameras cranking all the way up.

 

[N5XZS]

They are using the old analog NTSC FM video mode, that's reminds me of good old days C-band analog FTA FM video modes back in the 1980's.