“On July 8, 2011, NASA launched the final mission of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, and on that shuttle went two of Apple’s space-certified iPhone 4s running SpaceLab, a specially designed app for running experiments aboard the International Space Station,” Matthew Schildroth reports for MacDirectory.
“iPhone’s historical voyage to space exists thanks to the hard work of the staff at Odyssey Space Research,” Schildroth reports. “In order to explore and learn more about this project, MacDirectory spoke with Brian Rishikof, CEO of Odyssey Space Research.”
MacDirectory: What made the iPhone the device of choice versus another smartphone such as an Android or a specialized device?
Brian Rishikof: Aside from the fact that I have an affinity for Apple stuff, iPhone 4 was the first device of its kind released with the necessary sensors and capabilities. This was back in June of 2010, when we really started taking it seriously.
Most notably, iPhone 4 added a three-axis Gyroscope. Since we’re a ‘Space Company’ specializing in guidance, navigation and control, as opposed to an ‘App Company,’ the inherent features in iPhone 4 made it possible for us to capitalize on the idea and formulate an experiment that exploited our core competencies as well as the features of the device. As for considering specialized options, one premise of the entire project was to show what you could do with an off-the-shelf platform as opposed to something that is purpose built — which would be far too expensive.
Read more in the full interview here.
Don’t worry. The Chinese have promised that they will take some iPhones to the moon, and return all the junk we left there, starting with the flag. The White House expressed gratitude.
Right…had to get the White House in there, didn’t you, Felonius? What is your deal, anyway? My best guess is that you are a diehard contrarian who wouldn’t even be satisfied with a tax cut if it was suggested by Obama.
I have no time to waste on irrational blowhards like you.
I need to read how a solid-state three-axis gyroscope works. I thought you needed spinning weights to make a gyroscope.
——RM
It’s probably quantum. That explains everything.
Wikipedia is your friend.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Vibrating_structure_gyroscope
Yourinspace.
Spaaaaaace!