While consumers may have abandoned their Nexus One or Nexus S smartphones there were three Nexus that took a trip into space and sent back earth images.
Photos were combined in NASA's PhoneSat, from small boxed shaped satellites that were put into orbit on April 21. The devices used Nexus smartphones for brains. Meanwhile earthlings have heard nothing about the new cousins of the Nexus One and S , the Nexus 4 LTE or Nexus 5.
The satellites named Alexander and Graham , PhoneSat 1.0 were Nexus One powered. Bell, a Phone Sat 2.0 ran via the a Nexus S. Powered by solar panels, two-way radios let the engineers control them from the ground.
Meanwhile, earthlings have heard nothing about the new cousins of the Nexus One and S , the Nexus 4 LTE or Nexus 5 but can spend $649 for Nexus-style GS 4.
The technology objective was to demonstrate the application of consumer electronics as the basis of an extremely low-cost satellite bus. Each satellite is a 10 centimeter cube with a mass of about 1 kilogram.
The PhoneSat project is a technology demonstration mission funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters and the Engineering Directorate at NASA Ames Research Center. The project started in summer 2009 as a student-led collaborative project between Ames and the International Space University, Strasbourg.