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A camera that eliminates blind spots on the International Space Station was
successfully tested last month. The crew need external video cameras to help
them manoeuvre equipment outside the station, but the cameras can’t cope in
certain lights—particularly when half the picture is bright and half is in
shadow. For 20 minutes out of each 90-minute orbit, the contrast is too great
for the cameras to produce a usable picture and astronauts often have to
interrupt their tasks. The new camera, which was developed in Canada by the
Neptec Design Group of Ontario gets around the problem by bouncing laser light
off objects to illuminate them and create a 3D picture.