Congratulating NASA on the completion of a successful shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the recent unveiling of a new living space aboard the orbital laboratory, DIRECTV is offering the ISS a complete HD makeover - including its industry-leading line-up of national HD channels, the most advanced HD DVR on the market, a 42" flat screen HDTV and a sturdy velcro-wrapped remote control.

With the solar array repaired and the Harmony module - the ISS's first new living space in six years - successfully bolted into its permanent location, DIRECTV is ready to offer...

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The ISS goes around the earth every 90 mins. The DTV sats are in geo-sync orbit. How is it going to track the sat? There will be many times that the ISS is going to be on the on the other side of the earth in the shadow of the signal. Actually if they are doing it my guess is they will have to run the programming thru the uplink centers. Which means there will be a loss of bandwidth of the signals being uplinked to the ISS. Onw last thing who's in control of the remote to this 1 HD system? Then what disgust me is the ads that are going to come out of the project. DTV iwill push in ads that we provide the astronauts with the best HD TV that you can get in your home. This should not be allowed since the lion share of the funding to NASA is American public. I really don't want to see a "banner" on the side of the ISS that has Directv on it. I would like for the astronauts to have some form of entertainment on the ISS but do not want a constant ad rotating the earth. Just adding my 2 cents worth.

The Astronauts already have onboard entertainment. There is a team of highly skilled engineers already working on current and future HD systems for the International Space Station. I’m sure you all remember the live HD broadcast from the ISS about a year ago.

The cost of a few “free” items is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of Flight Certifying equipment for the ISS. It can take up to a million dollars and up to 2 years to Flight Certify some equipment. Some things never pass certification.

Equipment has to be tested for radiation tolerance. Radiation kills a lot of equipment in space. There are test for EMI (electro-magnetic interference). Most equipment puts out stray RF waves that could interfere with ISS command and control. There is thermal testing. Equipment can’t be hot to the touch. Most earth-bound equipment outgases toxic fumes when in an enclosed zero-gravity environment. These fumes would kill the crew. Flight Certified equipment must be made of non-toxic materials, or be coated with material that prevents outgassing. There are sharp edge tests where a white cotton glove is worn and passed over every part of the equipment. If any fibers are snagged or pulled from any surface on the equipment, it doesn’t pass. Try that with your home electronics. Power tests determine if the equipment feeds back interference signals into the ISS power system. Incidentally, there is no 115VAC on the ISS. It operates mostly on 28 volts.

Antenna blockage is a serious problem for the ISS. It is shaped like a bunch of “H” shapes all tied together at different angles. The Solar Panels must always rotate to track the sun as the ISS orbits the earth once every 90 minutes. Solar panels, trusses, and modules all occasionally block the antennas of the ISS from pointing at ground stations. Bandwidth is limited for Uplink/Downlink and must be scheduled weeks in advance. The internal communications system has limited bandwidth also.

Both the ISS and the new Orion spacecraft will have HD capabilities. I don’t think NASA needs any help with that.

I for one can’t wait for HD video from the moon when we go back. That will be exciting!