Smartphone set for blast off

The humble mobile phone has come a long way in the last 25 years and scientists hope to use the latest smartphone technology to control a nano-satellite in orbit.

Smartphones being sent to space could snap images of the Earth

Space researchers from the University of Surrey and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) have developed a satellite with a smartphone payload to demonstrate the advanced capabilities of a quickly-built satellite using commercial off-the-shelf components.

STRaND-1 –Surrey Training Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator – will go into orbit around the Earth later this year and the smartphone will be used to operate parts of the 4kg satellite.

“If a smartphone can be proved to work in space, it opens up lots of new technologies to a multitude of people and companies for space who usually can’t afford it,” said lead researcher Dr Chris Bridges. “It’s a real game-changer for the industry.”

Bridges said smartphones pack lots of components – sensors, video cameras, GPS systems and radios – that are technologically advanced but a fraction of the size, weight and cost of those used in existing satellites.

The satellite will undergo extensive ground testing prior to launch, plus an in-orbit test campaign to see how the phone holds up. A powerful computer will test the vital statistics once in space, checking which components operate normally and which malfunction. Images and messages will be sent back to Earth via a radio system.

Once complete, the microcomputer will be switched off and the smartphone used to operate parts of the satellite, which also contains advanced guidance navigation and control systems.

“With the smartphone payload costing less than £300 and the whole satellite costing less than a family car it’s exciting to see how the team have managed to create a satellite with such incredible performance,” said SSTL’s head of science, Doug Liddle.

Key project manager for STRaND-1, Shaun Kenyon said: “The operation of the smartphone is really just the icing on the cake to what is already an incredibly advance satellite.”