NASA launches three Nexus Ones into orbit

NASA has launched three HTC Nexus One smartphones into orbit around the Earth as low-cost satellites.

As part of a new project to lower the cost of satellites, on Sunday, NASA successfully launched three smartphones into orbit around the Earth. The three HTC Nexus One phones, running the Android OS, were carried aboard the Antares rocket, a new cargo shuttle for the International Space Station, from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, US.

PhoneSat 1.0 (credit: Nasa)

The trio of “PhoneSats” is operating in orbit, and may prove to be the lowest-cost satellites ever flown in space. The goal of NASA’s PhoneSat mission is to determine whether a consumer-grade smartphone can be used as the main flight avionics of a capable, yet very inexpensive, satellite.

“Smartphones offer a wealth of potential capabilities for flying small, low-cost, powerful satellites for atmospheric or Earth science, communications or other space-born applications. They also may open space to a whole new generation of commercial, academic and citizen-space users,” – said Michael Gazarik, NASA’s associate administrator for space technology in Washington.

Read more at NASA | cnet | PhoneSat