Israel’s nanosatellite will locate lost travelers despite no cellular reception

Israeli high-school students designed a ‘mini’ satellite that can precisely identify travelers’ location in global areas where there’s no cellphone reception.

 

Good things come in nano-packages: Israeli high-school students launched on Thursday night Israel’s first nanosatellite, which will aid stranded travelers worldwide to pinpoint their location, JNS reported.

Duchifat-1 nanosatellite

Duchifat-1 nanosatellite – Photo: Royroy903

The satellite, an 860-gram cube measuring 10 centimeters in each dimension, was designed and built by teens studying at the Herzliya Science Center, sponsored by the Israel Space Agency and the Herzliya Municipality.

Wikicommons

Duchifat (Hoopoe): Israel’s national bird – Photo: Wikicommons

Called Duchifat-1, after Israel’s petite national bird, the device was launched into space from the Yasny Airbase in Russia. From an orbit around planet Earth, the tiny satellite can receive signals from any cellular device in areas where there is no cellular reception, and then beam back a signal to a control center in Herzliya, providing the necessary data to locate stranded travelers and hitchhikers.

It is the second such satellite ever built by students. The first one was launched from the United States in January, and was designed with sponsorship from NASA.

 

View original HAARETZ publication at: http://www.haaretz.com/life/science-medicine/1.600177