Video has become a ubiquitous medium of communication, and GoPro cameras have been used to capture amazing footage of some awe-inspiring events.
Now someone at NASA came up with the brilliant idea of attaching GoPro cameras to a test launch rocket. The camera recorded everything that happened during a test launch funded by NASA and executed by UP Aerospace, writes Charlie Atkin for The Independent.
GoPro footage captures rocket test
UP Aerospace is a company that offers low-cost space access and transportation. It recently carried out a test during which it launched a rocket and separated payloads during flight, while everything was recorded for posterity on a number of GoPro cameras.
The video shows the launch process and the moment when different modules are detached from the vehicle in space. The descent and re-entry of different parts is captured in stunning high-definition video that is almost dizzying to watch.
Researchers say that the commercial suborbital space rocket was powered to a maximum altitude of approximately 75 miles, and the team behind the experiment claim that it was successful.
Successful test pleases researchers
“We had a great launch,” said Paul De Leon, NASA Flight Opportunities Program campaign manager. “All the payloads were exposed to the relevant environments that the researchers were seeking,” he said.
The test was carried out on November 6, with the rocket launching from Spaceport America in New Mexico. NASA funded the flight because the rocket contained four technology experiments from the space agency’s Flight Opportunities Program.
Among the experiments on board were the Maraia Earth Return Capsule, which is developed to return small satellites and payloads from orbit. Another was the AVA, a low-cost avionics package currently being developed by NASA with the aim of improving launcher systems for small satellites.
Purdue University also sent up its Green Propellant experiment, which studied the surface tension behavior of an ecologically friendly rocket propellant in low gravity. The experiment was designed to validate propellant management devices for geostationary and interplanetary space vehicles.
As amazing as the footage may be, it is not the first time that UP Aerospace has recorded its launches. Previous test launches with NASA have also been recorded using GoPro cameras before amazing videos are posted online.
