Seven Styrofoam beer coolers stuffed with Google’s latest Nexus S and a wide-angle sport camera were lifted up at the amazing altitude of 32 000 meters attached to some huge weather balloons. All of the coolers returned successfully to Earth and were picked by the Google team, so don’t expect a Nexus S landing on your balcony any time soon.
The purpose of this was to test all the device sensors and its performance under different environments such as the freezing near-vacuum conditions on the edge of space. And also, I guess, create a nice viral ad for the Nexus S.
The gathered data include accelerometer, GPS, compass and gyroscopic readings. All the boxes were equipped with GPS transponder, a radio transmitter and an antenna to broadcast their exact position.
Wonder how the coolers made it back to the mainland? With parachutes, of course!
Here is the video:
Another interesting thing is that the product manager of Nexus S thinks the phone’s core is powerful enough to be used in the space satellite technology. He says the conducted experiment was just for fun, but Google plans to team up with UK-based satellite manufacturer and send its Nexus S tech in the space for real.
The purpose of this was to test all the device sensors and its performance under different environments such as the freezing near-vacuum conditions on the edge of space. And also, I guess, create a nice viral ad for the Nexus S.
The gathered data include accelerometer, GPS, compass and gyroscopic readings. All the boxes were equipped with GPS transponder, a radio transmitter and an antenna to broadcast their exact position.
Wonder how the coolers made it back to the mainland? With parachutes, of course!
Here is the video:
Another interesting thing is that the product manager of Nexus S thinks the phone’s core is powerful enough to be used in the space satellite technology. He says the conducted experiment was just for fun, but Google plans to team up with UK-based satellite manufacturer and send its Nexus S tech in the space for real.
[Source]
