Hi-Def Cameras to Record Earth from Space Station

You just KNOW this is going to lead to some hokey Improv Everywhere-type mass gatherings that will quickly wear out their welcome.

A Canadian company is developing two high-definition cameras that will be affixed to the International Space Station, from which they will broadcast a live stream of Earth online. Calgary's UrtheCast hopes to have the two cameras completed in time for next year, when Russian cosmonauts will bring them up to the ISS to provide a “live version ... of Google Earth combined with YouTube,” according to company president Scott Larson. The higher-resolution camera will record a five-kilometre-wide patch of land, in which large buildings or geographic features will be clearly visible, while the lower-resolution camera will monitor a 45-kilometre-wide area. To which we say: Cool.