Sunday, April 21, 2013

What will they have an app for next?

Color me flabbergasted!
I knew smartphones were, well, smart, but they can control a satellite? James Bond would be envious.
Antares also carried three coffee cup-size Phonesat satellites — called Alexander, Graham and Bell — into orbit as part of a space technology experiment for NASA's Ames Research Center in California. The tiny 4-inch-wide satellites use commercial smartphones as their main computers. Another small satellite the size of a bread box, called Dove-1, also rode into orbit as part of a commercial agreement for the California-based company Cosmogia. Dove-1 is reportedly an Earth-observation and remote sensing satellite, according to a NOAA remote sensing license document. 
I think back to the days when portable phones were bricks, bags and  barely able to be installed under the seat of a truck. Not only are they small enough to lose, now they have the computing power that exceeds my desk to of a few years ago.
What’s next?

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