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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NASA builds $3,500 PhoneSat satellite using a smartphone

Historically, sending anything into space has been a very expensive endeavor regardless of whether its a new satellite or a manned spacecraft. However, NASA has been working to cut the cost of building and launching new satellites, and has turned to off-the-shelf components to drastically lower the price. The end result is a satellite that costs just $3,500 to build.

The NASA project investigating these cheap satellite designs is called PhoneSat. The team is based at the Ames Research Center and has been rapidly prototyping a number of cheap satellite designs. The key to keeping costs down is using components that are widely available and combine a number of features into a single device.


The heart of the PhoneSat satellites is a smartphone. Using a smartphone makes a lot of sense as you are only spending hundreds of dollars to purchase one, and in return you get a fast processor, a fully-functional and reliable operating system, cameras, GPS, radio, and several supporting sensors on board. There’s also the added bonus of easily being able to upgrade the software in the phone to add new functionality.
While using common components may keep the build cost to a minimum, it also means launching a PhoneSat is cheap too. A typical PhoneSat satellite weighs less than 4 pounds and takes the form of a cube no more than 4-inches wide.

NASA has been testing PhoneSat 1.0 ready for a launch into orbit using a Taurus II rocket later this year. It relies on a Nexus One smartphone and Android OS, and will have the simple mission of capturing images of Earth. PhoneSat 2.0 is also in development and will replace the Nexus One with the more up-to-date Nexus S smartphone. Unlike v1.0 which will just take photos, v2.0 will allow for commands to be sent using a two-way S-band radio and will employ magnetorquer coils to allow for orientation adjustments.

NASA’s work into developing a cheap satellite design will be shared with everyone through the NASA Open Government Plan. That means anyone wishing to launch their own satellite can use PhoneSat as a blueprint. There’s also big plans for the development of future PhoneSat iterations beyond v2.0, which is set to launch in June 2013. For example, there’s already work underway to give PhoneSat 3.0 a foldable design and to carry out a mission focusing on dispersed sensor heliophysics.

Source:Internet

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Google introduces an affordable version of Nexus One

Mumbai:Google introduces an affordable version of Nexus One: Google is all set to launch a further reasonable version of its well accepted cell phone Nexus One with minimum features.

This will be made to grab user’s attention from emerging economies such as India and Russia.
“Nexus One will not come to India in its US avatar, the India specific Google Phone may be a stripped down version and priced lower!” as stated by Ankit Vengurlekar; producer and anchor at CNBC TV (India).
A French representative of Nexus One, Emmanuelle Flahault-Franc confirmed the news that in France Nexus One will only be sold online.

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