India puts world's first smartphone in space

English: Logo of Indian Space Research Organisation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 India has become the world's first country to launch a smartphone into space - loaded with a number of experimental 'Apps', some serious and some just for fun.

The British-built Strand-1 spacecraft, developed by scientists in Surrey, was sent into orbit from Sriharikota in India to test the capabilities of a standard smartphone in a space environment.

Launched into a 785 km Sun-synchronous orbit on Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO's PSLV launcher on Monday, the spacecraft is an innovative 3U CubeSat, weighs 4.3 kg and is the world's first "phonesat" to go into orbit, as well as the first UK CubeSat to be launched.

Developed by a team from the University of Surrey's Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), STRaND-1 is a training and demonstration mission, designed to test commercial off-the-shelf technologies in space.

"STRaND-1 from SSC and SSTL is an example of the real synergy of academic research linked to commercial development and exploitation that is the hallmark of Surrey," Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, SSC Director and also Executive Chairman of SSTL, said.

"This launch is SSTL's first with ISRO, and I am looking forward to exploring opportunities for further launches and a wider collaboration on space projects in the future," Mr Martin said in a statement.

During the first phase of the mission, STRaND-1 will be controlled by the satellite's attitude control system and a new high-speed linux-based CubeSat computer.

During phase two the STRaND-1 team plans to switch many of the satellite's in-orbit operations to the smartphone, a Google Nexus One which uses the Android operating system, thereby testing the capabilities of many standard smartphone components for a space environment.

The smartphone has also been loaded with a number of experimental "Apps", some serious and some just for fun.

The 'Scream in Space' app was developed by Cambridge University Space Flight and will make full use of the smartphone's speakers.

Testing the theory 'in space no-one can hear you scream, made popular in the 1979 film 'Alien', the app will play videos of the best screams while in orbit and the screams will be recorded using the smartphone's microphone.

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Nexus One could be one of the first Android smartphones to go into orbit

Image via CrunchBase

The Nexus One may be a few iterations behind the latest Nexus handsets and other Android smartphones on the market, but that doesn't mean it isn't suited for a trip into space. As reported byZDNet, the University of Surrey's Space Centre (SSC) will soon send what it says is the first Android-powered smartphone into orbit. The handset will be strapped to the STRaND-1, a "CubeSat" (a small satellite used for research) and will launch from Sriharikota, India later this month.

SSC's lead engineer, Dr. Chris Bridges, told ZDNet that the crew had done some very thorough testing on the handset to make sure it could handle the varying temperatures and radiation. "It has a good chance of working as it should," he said. "You can never make true design evolutions or foster innovation without taking a few risks."

During flight, the STRaND-1 satellite will collect data with experimental applications. The satellite will run apps that were chosen in a Facebook competition—apps like Scream in Space, which will use the Nexus One's speakers to test whether someone can, in fact, scream in space. In the second phase of the flight, the STRaND-1 team will hand over the satellite's in-orbit operations to the Nexus One to test out its capabilities with this type of scenario. The flight will be one of the first attempts at controlling a satellite with a smartphone.

When asked why SCC chose the Nexus One, Bridges told ZDNet that it was simply "the best Android handset" available for the project. Last year, the team had put together a £250,000 (about $395,900) budget for the project, which Bridges had confirmed had been met. Satellites typically require specialized computing hardware, like radiation-hardened chips, which can be extremely expensive (one common example is the RAD750, a 200MHz PowerPC processor which costs about $200,000 for a CPU and compatible motherboard). A smartphone won't be flying a big spaceship anytime soon, but the data gathered from testing regular consumer hardware with open software in orbit will be helpful in lowering the cost of commercial and research access to space.

Source:Internet

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