2.3 on board
Cameras here isn’t exactly new – it’s also been used to film rocket launches from below, but as far as i know no one’s used it at an altitude of 36km. All the information the cameras capture is collected in the upper part of the capsule. the technology we have here is equivalent to something like a complete outside broadcast unit, including microwave downlink. there are nine hd recorders, nine camera controllers, multiplexers, converters, audio elements, voltage regulators, circuit breakers, telemetry, coolers, remote controls for everything. i don’t
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think so many elements have ever been brought together in such a small space before. the cabling for the whole thing is a real achievement. the camera unit is connected to the control panel inside the capsule with a 128-bit interface. While we want to spare Felix the effort, he must be in a position to assume manual operation of the cameras if there are problems with operating remotely. With that in mind, we’ve modified the recorders so that they can either be operated remotely or automatically go into recording mode as soon as the power is connected. here we’re working with a back-up for the back-up; we simply can’t afford the possibility that there’s nothing saved on the chips once Felix jumps. in total we generate 3tB of data through the on-board cameras alone, so the memory rate had to be reduced from 100MB to a still-excellent 50MB per second. Conventional hard drives with moving parts are a big no-no. they
wouldn’t work up there, but if they’re outside of the capsule atmosphere, they are subject to near-vacuum conditions and low temperatures, without protection. that’s why we work exclusively with solid-state memory media. www.redbullstratos.com
Video recorder The centrepiece for documenting Red Bull Stratos fulfills the functions of an outside broadcast truck and still fits in the top of the capsule. It will record 3TB of data. After everything keeping Baumgartner alive, the video is the most important element: no footage, no proof.