Samsung's Nexus S might be something of a forgotten smartphone today, but the bright minds at NASA found it good enough to heavily modify it into a phone-powered satellite called “PhoneSat” and send it into space two weeks ago, and now NASA has been successeful in using the PhoneSat to call Earth from space. The 2.2-pound satellite cost NASA just $7,500 to make, and is part of the agency's efforts to explore cheaper satellite technology – the Nexus S used contains a custom two-way S-band radio to communicate, but is otherwise unchanged, including hardware such as the camera and even the operating system (Android).
“The smartphone provides many of the functions the satellite needs to operate, such as computation, memory, ready-made interfaces for communications, navigation and power, all assembled in a rugged package before launch,” said NASA. Called the PhoneSat 2.4, the Nexus S-made satellite will test a system for changing a satellite's orientation in space, and it is was the first of many PhoneSats NASA has sent into space in the past few weeks.
Find all the details on the mission at the source link.
