STRaND-1 (Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator 1) is a failed 3U

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...

developed by Surrey University's

Surrey Space Centre The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

(SSC) and

Surrey Satellite Technology Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, or SSTL, is a company involved in the manufacture and operation of small satellites. A spin-off company of the University of Surrey, it is presently wholly owned by Airbus Defence and Space. The company began ...

(SSTL). The nanosatellite was launched into orbit on board a

PSLV The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite ...

Rocket from India on February 25, 2013, Smartphones have flown in space before inside the International Space Station, and the computer from a PDA launched inside two Japanese CubeSats in 2006 and 2008. STRaND-1 initially operated with a conventional CubeSat computer before it was supposed to be switched over to an on-board Android-based Nexus One smartphone, but the conventional computer stopped communicating before the switch-over could start. As a result, NASA's PhoneSats (

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

and

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

) were the first smartphone satellites to work in space, despite having been launched two months later than STRaND-1. The satellite was found broadcasting telemetry again in June 2013, after a two-month silence. There are no reports of any instrument being turned on.

Design and operation

STRaND-1 is operated by two computers: one is the classic CubeSat computer and second is a

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

Nexus One The Nexus One (codenamed HTC Passion) is an Android smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC as Google's first Nexus smartphone. The Nexus became available on January 5, 2010, and features the ability to transcribe voice to text, an addition ...

smartphone running the Android operating system. There was a public contest in August 2011 to create "space apps" to run on various satellite smartphones, including NASA's PhoneSat series. The winning Android app entries for STRaND-1 included an app for

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

measurements, satellite telemetry display, an

Earth imaging Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, spaceborne photography, or simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell ima ...

application calle
360 App
as well as one app which is purported to allow users to see people scream in space, although the smartphone never properly turned on and the developed apps were never used. The smartphone was intended to provide cameras, accelerometers and high-performance computer processors - almost everything except solar panels and propulsion. During the first phase of the mission, STRaND-1 was intended to use a number of experimental apps to collect data, while a new high-speed Linux-based CubeSat computer developed by SSC takes care of the satellite. During phase two the STRaND team intended to switch the satellite's in-orbit operations to the smartphone, thereby testing the capabilities of a number of standard smartphone components in a space environment. However, the smartphone on board STRaND-1 was never able to turn on, and was not used to control the failed satellite before the computer unexpectedly turned off in March 2013 (phase two was not turned on at this time, and the smartphone never turned on or functioned). On July 23, 2013 Mike Rupprecht DK3WN received signals from the UK STRaND-1 satellite after a near four-month absence.

References

External links

STRaND: Surrey Training Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator, 1st IAA Conference on University Satellite Mission and CubeSat Workshop January 24–29, 2011 Roma, Italy.

STRaND-1: Use of a $500 Smartphone as the Central Avionics of a Nanosatellitete, 62nd International Astronautical Congress, Cape Town, SA.

{{Orbital launches in 2013 Communications satellites Spacecraft launched in 2013 CubeSats

Design and operation

See also

References

External links