NASA Expands Dalet Installation at Johnson Space Center

NASA has expanded its Dalet Digital Media Systems installation, located at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). The expansion includes the addition of the IT-based Dalet Brio video server platform and Dalet Xtend, providing integration with Adobe Premiere Pro non-linear editors (NLEs).

These new tools integrate with the existing Dalet installation, which was implemented in 2013 and automates capture and archive of 10 SD/HD space station cameras, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Using Dalet Xtend for Adobe Premiere Pro and Dalet Brio, NASA can facilitate the production and broadcast of daily and weekly NASA TV wrap programs, which feature a mix of space station activities and interviews. The expansion also supports live broadcasts of events held at the JSC to NASA TV, recording material direct to the archive.

“There is a tremendous amount of footage recorded from the space station and JSC cameras into the NASA media database,” comments Julien Decaix, general manager of Americas for Dalet. “To efficiently store the content, we leveraged the Dalet API to integrate the NASA database with the Dalet Media Asset Management (MAM). This allows NASA to index the incoming footage and track metadata, which is key when searching for specific content such as an astronaut’s commentary from the space station or say footage from a press event held at the JSC. The expansion of the Dalet installation adds another layer of efficiency. The new tools let non-production staff browse and retrieve content from the archives without the aid of an NLE while Dalet Brio and Dalet Xtend facilitate content editing and program distribution with full metadata tracking from ingest to playout. The design maintains the integrity and security of the content.”

Dalet search and retrieval tools let authorized staff access media archives and browse content while the Dalet Xtend for Adobe Premiere Pro connects editors directly to the central database for efficient show creation and metadata continuity. Finished packages are put into the Dalet rundown management module and distributed via Dalet Brio to the NASA TV channel, which broadcasts every weekday from the NASA Johnson Space Center control studio located in Houston, TX.