December 23, 2010 03:52
The latest Smartphones are all about “exploration”. Indeed mobile applications like Google Map, Google Sky map and others enable users to learn much about their surroundings. With this theme in mind Google yesterday conducted an exploratory excursion of its own. A venture which took some Smartphones and a few brave Android figurines to the edge of space!
Google sent seven payloads of Android figurines and Nexus S devices to 100,000 feet up in the sky using specially adapted high altitude weather balloons. The project was designed to test and collect data on Nexus S sensors – GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer.
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Each rig contained Nexus S devices packed into a foam cooler loaded with Google Maps for Mobile 5.0 (with offline map data), Google Sky Map, Latitude and a custom sensor-logging app. Each payload also included an APRS transmitter, a battery, a radar reflector, a parachute, several cameras and a little Android commander.
According to Google’s official blog, the experiment was a resounding success. Google learned that Nexus S functions well at 60,000 feet and is able to withstand temperatures of -50 degrees Celsius. They were even able to chalk out the speed and altitude of the jet stream: about 130mph at 35,000 ft using the phone.
[youtube:x8XjIkdUQns]
In the end, all the payloads were safely recovered alone with their passengers – the little Android commanders (well almost all of them). Just imagine what those little figurines must be thinking - “That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for an Android figurine”
