Beyond NASA missions and rocket launches, have you ever considered a smartphone venturing into space? The Google Nexus One, a mobile phone, was sent into orbit like a human astronaut. This experiment, conducted in 2013 by the University of Surrey (UK), aimed to test if a standard smartphone could control a satellite. The Nexus One was integrated into a small satellite named Strand-1. Strand-1, a compact satellite measuring 30 centimeters, was launched approximately 784 kilometers above Earth. It contained no sophisticated technology, just the Nexus One connected via a USB cable. The phone ran custom software and a fun app to test if the sound of a scream could be heard in space. The Nexus One, a regular consumer smartphone, had impressive features for its time: a 3.7-inch display, 512MB of RAM, a 1400mAh battery, a 5-megapixel rear camera, and ran on Android 2.1 OS. It was priced around ₹10,000 in 2012. The phone was integrated into the satellite without modification, embarking on a rocket journey. The whereabouts of Google’s space-faring phone remain unknown, possibly still orbiting or now part of space debris, but it undoubtedly made history in technology and research.
