The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is partnering with the international leader of video delivery infrastructure, the Harmonic company, to launch the first ever non-commercial consumer ultra-high definition (UHD) channel in North America, the space agency announced on Friday.
The new channel, NASA TV UHD, comes as the result of a Space Act Agreement between NASA’s Marshal Space Flight Center and Harmonic.
The agreement allows NASA to utilize Harmonic’s UHD video delivery system to broadcast its content in what Robert Jacobs, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Office of Communications at the space agency’s Washington headquarters, noted to to be “four times the resolution of HD.”
Partnering with Harmonic gives NASA an outlet for its UHD content, which has four times the resolution of HD and is the next iteration of digital television
Peter Alexander, chief marketer officer at Harmonic, described Harmonic as a company which “provides a complete solution for Ultra HD video production and delivery, enabling content and service providers to offer better video quality at a low total cost of ownership.”
In regards to NASA’s new 4K television channel, Alexander indicated that the new channel will have the ability to bring the NASA’s “journey” through the unknown “to life in every home.”
As NASA reaches new heights and reveals the unknown, the NASA TV UHD channel can bring that journey to life in every home. And as organizations at the forefront of innovation, together we are leading the adoption of this exciting technology
The new channel, according to NASA’s Karen Northon, will take advantage of the UHD’s 8-megapixel resolution to “showcase the breathtaking beauty and grandeur of space.”
Sony unveiled its new ultra-thin 75-inch 4k UHD TV, the 75X91C, which is scheduled to go on sale mid-September — in time for NASA UHD TV’s November 1, 2015 launch date.
