A group of British scientists are planning to launch an Android running smartphone into space to see how well mobilephones cope with being shot into orbit.
It seems like a pretty specific thing to be researching but hey when Armageddon comes and we have to flee in a Virgin rocket then at least we know we can take out Samsung Galaxy S with us.
It will be the first time a mobilephone has been blasted all the way into orbit and despite how ridiculous sounding it is it could have a practical use.
All being well the Android phone will be controlling a satellite meaning that an inexpensive gadget like phones could be used to cut the costs of space travel.
Project manager Shaun Kenyon said: ‘Modern smartphones are pretty amazing. First of all, we want to see if the phone works up there, and if it does, we want to see if the phone can control a satellite.’
The ‘STRaND-1’ nano-satellite the phone will controlling weighs just 4kg, and comes with a GPS receiver, advanced guidance systems and ‘pulse plasma thrusters’ to manoeuvre itself.
The team haven’t decided which model of phone they’re going to use for the mission but said that they chose Android because its open-source nature makes it easy to modify the software for the purposes of spaceflight. They say that in the future, they hope people might even create purpose-built space apps for the extraterrestrial phones.
‘If a smartphone can be proved to work in space, it opens up lots of new technologies to a multitude of people and companies for space who usually can't afford it,’ said Dr Chris Bridges, the project’s lead researcher.
Android is no stranger to space travel. In December Google launched several Nexus S phones into space attached to weather balloons but is launching them into orbit to control satellites a step too far? Who knows?
Good luck Android.
Source: Metro