maemo.org - Talk - Mobile phone to blast into orbit

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Mobile phone to blast into orbit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12253228

Quote:

British engineers are planning to put a mobile phone in space.

The team at Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in Guildford want to see if the sophisticated capabilities in today's phones will function in the most challenging environment known.

The phone will run on Google's Android operating system but the exact model has not yet been disclosed.

It will be used to control a 30cm-long satellite and take pictures of the Earth in the mission later this year.

(more at the link)

Pretty amazing stuff! This could bring the cost of satellites waaay down, opening up more opportunities for smaller companies and who knows - maybe even the hobbyist!

Quote:

"The open source nature of the software is very exciting because you can see how further down the line, once we've got the phone working in orbit, we could get people to develop apps for it," Mr Liddle added.

Soon we could be writing apps for smartphones in space! :cool:

Re: Mobile phone to blast into orbit

Hmm... I don't belive it. Is this only a try to get a viral advertising campain? Not worth the reading. :confused:
(okay, I haven't - the headline was enought for me) :o

I could spent now my time to compare the cost for a BGA Board and a actual smartphone.
But thats irrelevant. The cost to put a kg load into orbis is so massive compared to this pease of electronic scrap.

Re: Mobile phone to blast into orbit

Amateur satelite launchings will probably not happen so soon, last i heard hobbie rocketeers were not allowed to have any active controls on their rockets to not have people playing with homemade missiles...