‘PhoneSat’ STRaND-1Makes Its Way To Space Aboard ISRO’s PSLV Launcher

You are well aware of yesterday’s launch of ISRO’s PSLV-C20 satellite launch vehicle which carried seven satellites into orbit, but you might not know the fact that one of those seven satellites was a ‘phonesat’. Titled STRaND-1, this nanosatellite contains a Google Nexus One smartphone; a Linux based processor, attitude & orbit control system and is powered by 8 pulsed plasma thrusters and a water-alcohol propulsion system. STRaND-1 has been developed by a team from the University of Surrey’s Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL). STRaND-1 is a training and demonstration mission, designed to test commercial off-the-shelf technologies in space.

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The phone’s camera shall be used for capturing images of the earth and with the help of 360 app shall be uploaded to its website. The smartphone also contains a Scream in Space app developed by Cambridge University Space Flight that will test the theory that no one can listen to you in space. The app will play videos of the best screams while in orbit and screams will be recorded using the smartphone's own microphone.

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