<p>Last year, NASA's Ames Research Center announced plans to launch an Google Android-powered nano-satellite into space. A test unit has already been sent into suborbit, and a space launch is set for April 4. But a team of British researchers has quietly beat Ames to the punch.</p><p>On February 25, the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey in the UK and its commercial spin-off, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., launched a Android nano-satellite dubbed STRaND-1 or Surrey Training, Research, and Nanosatellite Demonstrator from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India.</p><p>The nanosat which has been in development since 2011 isn't entirely dependent on Android. It also includes a Linux-based high-performance computer, and that's actually what's driving the machine right now. It might actually be the most powerful computer flown in space. The computers used for space missions are notoriously outdated.</p><p>But the researchers hope to soon switch on the Nexus One smartphone contained in the satellite. Once it's running, the Android phone will run several applications, some of which were created during a development contest in 2011. One app, called iTesa, will record the magnitude of the magnetic field around the phone during orbit. Another will display satellite telemetry that will be imaged by another on-board camera. The phone will also take photos using its built-in camera, and operate the satellite in orbit.</p><p><a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/03/brits-beat-yanks-android-space/">Keep reading...</a></p>