STRaND-1 and team – Image credit SSTL

The BBC report that the world’s first “smartphone-sat” STRaND-1 is ready to launch at the end of February. The satellite was built in Guildford by volunteers from the Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in their spare time. It is planned to be launched on February 25 into a 785 km orbit by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on the PSLV-CA (PSLV-C20) rocket.

Dr Chris Bridges working on STRaND-1

The innovative STRaND-1 CubeSat will carry a Google Nexus One Android smartphone into space to demonstrate the feasibility of using cheap smartphone electronics to control a spacecraft.

Smartphones contain highly advanced technologies and incorporate several key features that are integral to a satellite – such as cameras, radio links, accelerometers and high performance computer processors – almost everything a spacecraft needs except the solar panels and propulsion.

There will be an amateur radio AX.25 packet radio downlink on 437.568 MHz using a data rates of 9k6 bps.

STRaND-1 flight ready February 2013 with Shaun Kenyon, Dr Peter Shaw, Dr Chris Bridges

Further information on STRaND-1 at
http://www.amsat-uk.org/?p=12196

Watch the videos in the STRaND-1 video archive
http://www.amsat-uk.org/?p=12472

Read the BBC News story at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21361204

The world’s first smartphone in Space ‘STRaND-1’ ready for launch
http://www.sstl.co.uk/News-and-Events?story=2117

Dr Chris Bridges talked about STRaND-1 on the BBC Radio 4 show Material World broadcast on Thursday, February 7. A recording can be heard until February 14 at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qfj3l The STRaND-1 segment starts 08:55 into the recording.

STRaND-1 on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nanosats

You can follow STRaND at https://twitter.com/SurreyNanosats