WASHINGTON — Three smartphones destined to become low-cost satellites rode to
space Sunday aboard the maiden flight of Orbital Science Corp.’s Antares rocket
from NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia.

The trio of
“PhoneSats” is operating in orbit, and may prove to be the lowest-cost
satellites ever flown in space. The goal of NASA’s PhoneSat mission is to
determine whether a consumer-grade smartphone can be used as the main flight
avionics of a capable, yet very inexpensive, satellite.

Transmissions
from all three PhoneSats have been received at multiple ground stations on
Earth, indicating they are operating normally. The PhoneSat team at the Ames
Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., will continue to monitor the
satellites in the coming days. The satellites are expected to remain in orbit
for as long as two weeks.

“It’s always great to see a space technology
mission make it to orbit — the high frontier is the ultimate testing ground for
new and innovative space technologies of the future,” said Michael Gazarik,
NASA’s associate administrator for space technology in Washington.

“Smartphones offer a wealth of potential capabilities for flying small,
low-cost, powerful satellites for atmospheric or Earth science, communications,
or other space-born applications. They also may open space to a whole new
generation of commercial, academic and citizen-space users.”

Satellites
consisting mainly of the smartphones will send information about their health
via radio back to Earth in an effort to demonstrate they can work as satellites
in space. The spacecraft also will attempt to take pictures of Earth using their
cameras. Amateur radio operators around the world can participate in the mission
by monitoring transmissions and retrieving image data from the three satellites.
Large images will be transmitted in small chunks and will be reconstructed
through a distributed ground station network.