Google might have search and advertising as their bread and butter, but this does not mean that the company is sitting down idly and not looking into other areas which might just change the way that the tech world works. In fact, one of the more recent forays that Google have dived into include the 3D mapping smartphone prototype which has been dubbed “Project Tango“. Project Tango might have some ways to go before it is finally released to the masses, but we do know that a pair of these are being prepared to fly all the way over to the International Space Station later this May.
PCWorld claims that a couple of the smartphones will be making their way to the International Space Station, where these happen to be part of the cargo on an unmanned capsule which will resupply the ISS. NASA intends to attach the respective handsets to soccer ball-sized free-flying robots that are known as Spheres, where these will travel inside the space station so that they can perform remote checks on its equipment.
With the inclusion of the Project Tango smartphones alongside the relevant sensors, these can then map out an indoor location in real time. In this particular experiment it is hoped to see whether the Sphere robots are able to move about the station in a far more accurate manner.