Drones and Now Nano satellites: Phonesats

Lots of things are getting small and more mobile.   As presented in Computerworld.    What are the implications of smaller and widely ranging sensors? " ... NASA has launched three smartphones into space in what scientists hope will be the lowest-cost satellites ever tested. The smartphones, Google-HTC Nexus Ones running the Android operating system, launched aboard the maiden flight of Orbital Science Corp.'s Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia on Sunday. The smartphones are encased in 4-inch metal cubes and are hooked up to external lithium-ion battery banks and more powerful radios for sending messages from space. The goal of this mission is to see just how capable these tiny satellites, dubbed PhoneSats, are and whether they can one day serve as the brains of inexpensive, but powerful, satellites. ... "