Nanosatellite

NASA is planning to develop prototype smartphone-operated nanosatellites powered by Google’s Android system.

Built at a cost of $3,500 by a team of engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center, the first of three smartphone-powered nanosatellites, the PhoneSat 1.0, is planned to be launched this year aboard Orbital Sciences’s Antares launch vehicle from Wallops Island in Virginia, US.

Features of the PhoneSat 1.0, which runs on the HTC Nexus One smartphone, include an external radio beacon, external batteries, and a circuit to reboot the phone should information transmission be stopped.

The first nanosatellite has already completed various tests successfully under a range of extreme conditions that include thermal-vacuum chambers, vibration and shock tables, sub-orbital rocket flights and high-altitude balloons.

"The PhoneSat1.0 will determine the orientation of the spacecraft, capture images of the Earth, and supply data about its health.”

Following the launch, the PhoneSat1.0 will determine the orientation of the spacecraft, capture images of the Earth, and supply data about its health, the space agency said.

After the successful launch of the first nanosatellite, the agency plans to launch a more powerful nanosatellite, the Samsung Nexus S smartphone-powered PhoneSat 2.0, which features a GPS receiver and solar panels to prolong its mission lifespan.

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With plans to launch another mission for a heliophysics research in 2013, NASA’s PhoneSat 2.0 nanosatellite also features a two-way radio system, which is expected to allow the engineers to command the satellite from the Earth.

The new PhoneSats are envisioned for NASA’s future Earth observation missions, moon exploration programmes, and spaceflight technology testing.


Image: Nathan Howard, mini AERCam mechanical design Llad, monitors a test with the nanosatellite free flyer in the Navigation Systems Technology Lab (NSTL) at JSC. Photo: courtesy of NASA.