NASA and HTC plan to send the phone into space next year

Oct 10, 2012 10:07 GMT  ·  By

You might think that the old Nexus One has seen it all and more since it was launched on the market back in January 2010. Well, it appears that HTC doesn’t think so, as the Taiwanese handset maker plans to launch the Nexus One again, but this time into … space.

HTC has just confirmed the Nexus One is will be going to space in 2013 as part of NASA’s PhoneSat program, which is focusing on creating small, cheap and easy-to-build “nano-satellites.”

Obviously, we don’t expect NASA to simply strap the phone to a rocket and send it into space, just like that. As a matter fact, it took HTC and NASA years of testing to get the right formula that will make Nexus One sturdy enough to survive such a trip.

NASA “already put the Nexus One through years of tests, from thermal-vacuum chambers, extreme vibration tests, to high-altitude balloon flights, and more.”

For those who don’t remember, NASA actually strapped a Nexus One smartphone to a rocket back in 2010, but they only send it to the edge of space and got a movie recorded by the phone to prove its success.

However, it appears that HTC and NASA want to go even further with this, and given the advanced technology the Nexus One has inside its chassis in comparison with an average satellite orbiting into space, the project is likely to be a resounding success.

HTC does not offer an exact timeframe for the launch of Nexus One into space, but that’s pretty understandable as with all NASA’s projects, so stay tuned for more updates on this one.

In the same piece of news, HTC is teasing fans with an unusual statement “Perhaps we’ll see the HTC One X+ in the next spaceship bound for Jupiter?” Are they really planning to do that?