Smartphones are launched into space.
Without satellites, much of our day-to-day communications would simply stop functioning. And NASA is trying to find ways to make future satellite designs cheaper and better.
Keeping that objective in mind, three smartphones have been sent into Earth’s orbit by NASA scientists.
The satellite program, called PhoneSat is testing the components of the phone in space as candidates for use in future NASA satellites. The phones are named Alexander, Graham, and Bell.
They will travel at 150 miles above the surface of the Earth for around two weeks before being burned up upon reentry into the atmosphere.
4 inch thick metal cubes are set up to protect the phones, which are operating on the Android system.
NASA is trying to find ways to make future satellite designs cheaper and better.
The three PhoneSats came in at a cost of between 35 hundred and 7 thousand dollars each, compared to most satellites that cost over a million dollars to create.
What do you think about NASA's PhoneSat program?