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Android phone blasts into space aboard satellite |
February 27, 2013
A 2010-vintage HTC Nexus One is the brains of a satellite launched into orbit Monday by the Indian Space Research Organization, dubbed STRaND-1.
STRaND-1 (Surrey Training, Research, and Nanosatellite Demonstrator), which weighs around 8 pounds, is the brainchild of UK-based Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, which designed the satellite both as a way to gauge how consumer-grade electronics would perform in space and to demonstrate pulsed-plasma thruster use on similar "nanosatellites."
According to SSTL, the Android phone aboard STRaND-1 will run apps that will collect scientific data, take pictures of Earth using its on-board 5-megapixel camera, and even control some satellite functions. Temperature monitoring will prompt the device to run load-intensive programs, heating the CPU and avoiding a frozen battery.
Along with its serious purposes, STRaND-1 will run an app called Scream in Space, which will put the long-held saying, "in space, no one can hear you scream" to the test by playing user-submitted videos and listening for any emitted sound.
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Link: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/022613-android-space-267132.html
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