It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s the HAYABUSA II! Last December, JAXA (the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) launched its second mission in the Hayabusa line from the Yoshinobu launch complex at Tanegashima Space Center. HAYABUSA I achieved many firsts in space exploration. The mission wasn’t perfect, but it accomplished quite a bit, including the expenditure of over 1000 hours of successful Ion Drive usage, along with a successful (albeit unintentional) touchdown and liftoff. Apparently, HAYABUSA I was such fun the scientists were all clamoring “Again…again!”
HAYABUSA II Is going to be doing an extensive amount of shooting in 4K, the intent being to convert the footage to 8K, which will be displayed in a dome theatre when finished. Finally some live action outer space content to compete with all the CGI! What will they use to convert the footage? It has to be durable and high-functioning, from a well-established company. Certainly no flash in the pan company with a one-time wonder product will do for an undertaking this historic (and expensive). Kei Nozawa, the president and DoP of Gokuraku Eizo (a Japanese production company) was presented with this decision when JVC Kenwood & VideoTec & and Japan Cablecast offered his company the project. What was his decision? The Blackmagic Design ATEM 1M/E Production Studio 4K of course!
“The project was originally to make content for a dome shaped theatre like a planetarium, which JVC Kenwood/VideoTec offered us. Usually, the content for these types of theatre are CG or animation, so we were looking to do something live action,” said Kei Nozawa. He went on to say: “We decided to shoot in 4K and up convert the footage to 8K for showing in a dome theatre. As we also planned a live broadcast of the launch of HAYABUSA 2, we had to find a switcher which would allow us to switch 4K feeds without any stress. We found the Blackmagic Design ATEM 1M/E Production Studio 4K, and decided it was the one to use.”
The Blackmagic Design ATEM – don’t visit outer space without it! Yoshinori Nakano of the tech department of VIDEO Service, joined Mr. Nozawa on this venture and had a hand in the equipment selection for this monumental undertaking.
“We had to use many cameras for the project, and we needed enough inputs to cover all of those camera feeds. We chose the ATEM because it supports 4K, has 10 inputs, and is capable of picture in picture,” said Mr. Nakano.
That wasn’t the only Blackmagic Design product chosen for the project, either; the Teranex Express, 3 HyperDeck Studio Pros, along with 7 SDI multiplex mini-converters. The award-winning DaVinci Resolve software also has a role in this venture, where it’s being used to edit on-site following the robotic adventure from launch to touchdown. Thankfully for the JAXA, the same top-quality company had many of the necessary components for this portion of the HAYABUSA II mission, which insured no-fuss compatibility.
The Blackmagic Design Teranex Express, with its perfect color correction, was the obvious choice to use with the satellite
feed. The Teranex is being used to color correct each signal from the satellite feed to ensure it is properly attuned and meshes together perfectly; with its 10-bit quality, the Teranex is hard to beat as the ideal converter for this project. The Teranex is capable of a wide variety of conversions varying from SD, HD and Ultra HD including formats and frame rates, as well as those extensive and sizeable 1089 conversions! The broad list of helpful features contained in its cutting edge patented algorithms makes it a top pick among broadcasters across the globe for its flexibility and innate workflow enhancement.
Speaking of 10-bit studio quality, Blackmagic Design carries on the trend with its HyperDeck Studio Pro. Whether updating an outmoded or aging broadcast deck or assembling the pinnacle of new media possibilities for a historic spaceflight, the HyperDeck Studio Pro is another sure fire winner; Kei Nozawa and Yoshinori Nakano certainly thought so when they included it in the program. The ALOS-2 rocket and Himawari 8 weather satellite, a previous project, had also utilized the HyperDeck Studio Pro. Each HyperDeck can easily fit into 1 rack unit, its size and weight also making it an ideal choice for OB vehicles or transporting the equipment to more remote sites. HyperDeck Studio records SD/HD 10-bit 4:2:2 uncompressed video, the quality is absolutely flawless. The color range for correction bold, broad, and deep; flawless keying eliminates jagged edges entirely.
Blackmagic Design Mini Converter SDI Multiplex 4Ks connected with each output on the cameras. Four of them had 1.5G
SDI connections to an UltraHD 4K output. This converted the signals to 6G SDI. Additional converters were required to alter the signal back to 4 HD-SDI to use it with the broadcast system. Each converter has several internal power supplies to help ensure smooth and quiet operation while switching between formats. The equipment is easy and fast to set up and use. A simple pen allows alteration of the mini switch settings, they can also be adjusted via USB 2.0 by uploading software straight from Blackmagic Design.
DaVinci Resolve completes this cutting edge interstellar ensemble. With its non-linear video editing, and the most advanced color correction available this software is a definite winner. It can easily handle 4K, and its scalability means it can be used on a small set or easily integrate into a massive Hollywood production. Overflowing with features top quality tool is a sure fire addition for any of your media needs.
On a project like providing the HAYABUSA II with all the necessary media tools, JAXA required ironclad quality. It comes as no surprise that they went to Blackmagic Design to find it. For something as important (and expensive) as a historic spaceflight, only the absolute best will do.
About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.
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