Three Google HTC Nexus One phones were launched by NASA to test the ability of smartphones to act as a central computer on future low-cost satellites.
[quote]"Nanosatellites" are shaped like a cube with a side of 10 centimeters [/quote]
Today's mobile phones, the US Space Agency points out, already have many of the systems used in Earth observation, scientific measurement and telecommunications satellites: fast processors, flexible software, high-resolution cameras, GPS, gyroscopes and other built-in sensors.
The three PhoneSat satellites being tested by NASA's Ames Research Center in California "could prove to be the cheapest satellites ever flown into space," NASA says.
They were launched on Sunday as the secondary payload of the Antares rocket launched by the new space transportation company Orbital Sciences Corp.
They are scheduled to remain in orbit for up to two weeks, during which time they transmit signals to ground receiving stations.
Radio amateurs around the world can even participate in the mission by receiving the signals and images sent by the "nano satellites." Details are provided by the dedicated PhoneSat created by NASA.
NASA engineers kept the total cost for each satellite under $7,500 by using commercially available equipment.
The phones were placed inside metal cubes with sides of 10 centimeters, which protect the circuits from space radiation and also incorporate a large lithium battery and a radio transmitter.
However, do not try to learn the mobile numbers to call them from Earth: the calling and texting functions have been disabled.
