CS: Exotic Imaging Sampling, Amazing Shots

As some of you may have noted, the images used in this blog are generally coming from the space exploration. While we go about daily earth life, we generally do not realize that some robot is doing something for us in other worlds at the exact same moment. And some times, some of these shots are breathtaking. But I am also interested in exotic sampling schemes (see CS: Coded Mask Imagers: What are they good for ? The George Costanza "Do the Opposite" Sampling Scheme) in hardware, mostly because they are certainly conducive to irregular sampling and maybe even Compressive Sampling.

Before Phoenix landed on Mars, it was caught landing by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera (more here). Emily Lakdawalla has a detailed explanation on how this amazing shot was taken. But more importantly, she and Timothy Reed provide a good description of the HiRISE FPA.


The HiRISE focal plane array is composed of a series of small array (small rows featured in the photo above) sensor that use the movement of the satelitte to aid in the pushbroom sampling technique. The interesting thing is the use of different arrays when only one would be OK.


At a meeting last april, Gwendoline Blanchet of CNES presented a similar set up of the SPOT 5 satellite camera where two arrays have been built with a similar displacement. Even though there is no need for these two arrays up there, it is a nice capability to know about in case one would want to try some different sampling scheme. And for what I hear, they are looking into it.

In a different direction is the commercial use of stereoscopic technology as mentioned in Making a Modern 3-D, Movie Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D shows off Hollywood's most advanced technology by Kate Greene who features the 3d PACE cameras used in the latest 3D movie. A nice introduction to the constraints of commercial entities. I note the following:

For all the apparent trouble of making a 3-D movie, the industry is investing in the technology. Lowry notes that this year, there have been six 3-D movies, and next year, about 17 3-D releases are planned. "It's in a state of growth that's quite remarkable," he says.

Credit Photo: NASA / JPL / UA / courtesy of Timothy Reed (HiRISE Optical Integration Team) via the Planetary Society Blog.