Phonesat, gli smartphone in orbita della NASA fanno il record del satellite low cost

In genere la prima battuta che viene in mente pensando all'informatica necessaria per il controllo delle missioni spaziali è che il modulo LEM è sbarcato sulla luna nel 1969 con a bordo una potenza computazionale infinitesima rispetto agli smartphone che molti di noi portano in tasca oggi. Ieri la NASA ha messo in orbita una missione che mette alla prova il potenziale di questa affermazione: dalla Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia sono infatti partiti, a bordo di un vettore Antares di Orbital Science Corp, i primi tre "phonesat", nanosatelliti costruiti proprio con uno smartphone e un po' di elettronica RF in più. La comunità dei radioamatori è chiamata a partecipare direttamente al successo della missione attraverso il sito Phonesat.org. Per tutti la frequenza da sorvegliare è di 437.425 MHz con nominativo KJ6KRW. Le trasmissioni avvengono in packet radio con il classico protocollo AX-25 in modulazione AFSK a 1200 bps (un po' come l'ACARS VHF di cui si parla nel post precedente).

Lo scopo è proprio quello di dimostrare la fattibilità di una tecnologia satellitare basata su componenti commerciali a bassissimo costo. All'annuncio della missione il sito Geek.com aveva calcolato che il costo di un phonesat si aggira intorno ai 3.500 dollari, una bazzecola. La stessa NASA, descrivendo l'architettura dei suoi "telefonini spaziali", precisa che per il Phonesat 1.0 è stato scelto un Nexus One HTC, mentre il Phonesat 2.0 monta addirittura (!) un Nexus S della Samsung. Con una attrezzatura così a buon mercato si possono pensare progetti di sorveglianza a terra, misurazioni eliofisiche, esplorazione di satelliti naturali e pianeti riducendo in modo significativo sia i costi, sia le complessità di gestione delle missioni. 

NASA Successfully Launches Three Smartphone Satellites

WASHINGTON -- Three smartphones destined to become low-cost satellites rode to space Sunday aboard the maiden flight of Orbital Science Corp.'s Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia. The trio of "PhoneSats" is operating in orbit, and may prove to be the lowest-cost satellites ever flown in space. The goal of NASA's PhoneSat mission is to determine whether a consumer-grade smartphone can be used as the main flight avionics of a capable, yet very inexpensive, satellite. 

Transmissions from all three PhoneSats have been received at multiple ground stations on Earth, indicating they are operating normally. The PhoneSat team at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., will continue to monitor the satellites in the coming days. The satellites are expected to remain in orbit for as long as two weeks. "It's always great to see a space technology mission make it to orbit -- the high frontier is the ultimate testing ground for new and innovative space technologies of the future," said Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for space technology in Washington. 

"Smartphones offer a wealth of potential capabilities for flying small, low-cost, powerful satellites for atmospheric or Earth science, communications, or other space-born applications. They also may open space to a whole new generation of commercial, academic and citizen-space users." Satellites consisting mainly of the smartphones will send information about their health via radio back to Earth in an effort to demonstrate they can work as satellites in space. The spacecraft also will attempt to take pictures of Earth using their cameras. Amateur radio operators around the world can participate in the mission by monitoring transmissions and retrieving image data from the three satellites. Large images will be transmitted in small chunks and will be reconstructed through a distributed ground station network. More information can found at: 

http://www.phonesat.org

NASA's off-the-shelf PhoneSats already have many of the systems needed for a satellite, including fast processors, versatile operating systems, multiple miniature sensors, high-resolution cameras, GPS receivers and several radios. NASA engineers kept the total cost of the components for the three prototype satellites in the PhoneSat project between $3,500 and $7,000 by using primarily commercial hardware and keeping the design and mission objectives to a minimum. The hardware for this mission is the Google-HTC Nexus One smartphone running the Android operating system. 

NASA added items a satellite needs that the smartphones do not have -- a larger, external lithium-ion battery bank and a more powerful radio for messages it sends from space. The smartphone's ability to send and receive calls and text messages has been disabled. 

Each smartphone is housed in a standard cubesat structure, measuring about 4 inches square. The smartphone acts as the satellite's onboard computer. Its sensors are used for attitude determination and its camera for Earth observation. 

For more about information about NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program and the PhoneSat mission, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/smallsats

The PhoneSat mission is a technology demonstration project developed through the agency's Small Spacecraft Technology Program, part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate. The directorate is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in future science and exploration missions. NASA's technology investments provide cutting-edge solutions for our nation's future.