Pretty floating spheres of water

October 10, 2015 9:40 PM

RED 4K Video of Colorful Liquid in Space. "Once again, astronauts on the International Space Station dissolved an effervescent tablet in a floating ball of water, and captured images using a camera capable of recording four times the resolution of normal high-definition cameras. The higher resolution images and higher frame rate videos can reveal more information when used on science investigations, giving researchers a valuable new tool aboard the space station. This footage is one of the first of its kind. The cameras are being evaluated for capturing science data and vehicle operations by engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama." [Via]
posted by homunculus (16 comments total)

Amazing!
posted by growabrain at 9:49 PM on October 10, 2015

Cool! Is this going to result in more science boosterism or actual papers being published?
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:07 PM on October 10, 2015

Very cool. I could have done without the song in the second video though. It sounds like something I would have heard at a high school pep rally in the '90s.
posted by no mind at 10:07 PM on October 10, 2015 [2 favorites]

RingTFA, the second sentence pops out:

The fifth SpaceX cargo resupply mission delivered this camera to the orbiting laboratory in January 2015. The camera's ability to record at a high resolution as well as up to 300 frames per second made it the ideal recording device to capture dynamic events like vehicle operations near the station, such as docking and undocking. The higher resolution images and higher frame rate videos can reveal more information when used on science investigations, giving researchers a valuable new tool aboard the space station.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:11 PM on October 10, 2015

Is it just me, or is causing tiny little particles of dyed water to jettison off to go who knows where in a station that is full of vital electronics a really bad use of effervescence?
posted by birdsquared at 10:25 PM on October 10, 2015 [3 favorites]

They kind have to have planned for that, there's people up there and while not idealized spherical persons there are still several ways that they can unexpectedly eject fluids. Think about that next time you wanna be an astronaut!
posted by sammyo at 10:40 PM on October 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

Liquid alert, grab the vacuum, oh and hold your breath.
posted by sammyo at 10:42 PM on October 10, 2015

What do you call a prominently branded color-mixing video on MetaFilter?

RED Blue.
posted by Phssthpok at 12:46 AM on October 11, 2015 [3 favorites]

Is homonculus colorblind? Because that water ball is green, not red.
posted by rikschell at 5:31 AM on October 11, 2015

those poor air bubbles - don't know which way is up!
posted by rebent at 7:09 AM on October 11, 2015

> those poor air bubbles - don't know which way is up!

The Space Program: New Frontiers in Crouton Petting.
posted by benito.strauss at 8:25 AM on October 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

rikschell: Is homonculus colorblind? Because that water ball is green, not red.

RED is the manufacturer of the camera.
posted by James Scott-Brown at 8:40 AM on October 11, 2015

Super cool! I spent the summer at Marshall and got to tour the facilities- and I can assure you they have some pretty thorough testing that random experiments go through- so the added moisture in the atmosphere from effervescence was probably within acceptable limits. It'll just get collected in the filters and recycled into drinking water.
posted by Secretariat at 10:55 AM on October 11, 2015

Is homonculus colorblind? Because that water ball is green, not red.

All I see is red, the color of blood and rage.
posted by homunculus at 11:04 AM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

It looks strangely alive
posted by elgilito at 1:07 PM on October 11, 2015

When I try to see a 4K video, my computer starts laughing at me.
posted by zardoz at 2:39 PM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]