Google: a Nexus S and Android in space

Sending the Android figurine to the stars? This is easy with the help of a Nexus S Smartphone as a measuring instrument.

Without a doubt motivated by the nice experiment conducted by a fan that sent an iPhone into the atmosphere with hardly anything, a team at Google have decided that an Android figurine should go a little higher.

They therefore developed a balloon to which they attached a Nexus S Smartphone to collect information about the flight (with its GPS function, accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer) and an Android figurine.

The results were a nice looking video of Android flying around at more than 100 000 feet (30 000 meters) before the balloon exploded, bringing everything back to the earth. While it’s not the Nexus S that filmed the experience, it did demonstrate that the handset had a GPS position of up to 60 000 feet (18 000 meters) despite the cold temperatures (- 50° C), while providing a final position before it started its descent.

Videos and photos of the preparation and flight of Android, the recovery experience and other pieces of information are available on the Google blog.