NASA is testing smartphones as low cost satellites - 20minutes.fr

how roaming charges to 240 km altitude? Since Sunday, three smartphones launched by NASA orbiting the Earth as part of an experimental program on satellite ultra low cast. These “phonesats” almost any large: sensors (GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer), means of communication, an operating system (Android) and they can take pictures

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three satellite phones, called Alexander Graham Bell and are “old” Nexus One who undergoes many ground tests. NASA simply grafted a large battery, more powerful radio and tidy all in a metal cube about 10 cm square. Apparently, they cope better with cold and radiation than had been anticipated engineers.

Mission two weeks

Because they are at a relatively low altitude and they do not ship engine-booster, these phonesats expected to fall to Earth after about two weeks of mission.

adjoining amateur radio can communicate with them (here), in particular to recover fragments of photos. Eventually, schools and universities could have access to such satellites as part of educational projects and research.

NASA is not the only one working on such a project. The startup Ardusat managed to raise $ 100,000 on Kickstarter to put into orbit a small satellite community. Planetary Resources, which wants to become the first mining company in space, should it, deploy a fleet of probes in 2014. The development of commercial flights has resulted in lower costs to orbit, on the principle of carpooling Version rocket.

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