First Space Message Sent Using Mobile Phone Technology

After its successful launch into space last week, the Herschel Space Observatory used cell phone technology to call back home — the first time the technology has been used in spaceflight.

Herschel and its partner Planck were launched in tandem aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.

Herschel is the largest, most powerful infrared telescope ever launched into space. It will make observations in the far-infrared to sub-millimeter wavelengths of light that will allow astronomers to study cold, dark dust clouds and possibly star formation in action.

At 12:00 GMT (8:00 a.m. EST) on May 16 — just under two days after launch — Herschel switched its telemetry downlink to "high rate mode" and began transmitting, marking the first-ever use of Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) modulation in space. GMSK is commonly used in Global System for mobile Communication (GSM) mobile phone networks due to its very efficient use of bandwidth and power.

The transmission sent send test data to ESA's deep space tracking station at New Norcia, Australia.

"Herschel's 1.5-Mbps test transmission — roughly the same data rate provided by a home broadband Internet connection — was picked up at ESA's ESTRACK station at New Norcia, Australia, on Saturday, as the satellite was traveling some 280,000 kilometers [174,000 miles] from Earth," said John Dodsworth, the Herschel-Planck Flight Operations Director at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

In a typical GSM mobile phone network, the same technology transmits data at a somewhat lower speed. Planck also uses GMSK technology, and its transmission capability will be tested later during the satellite's commissioning phase.

During their missions, the GMSK-based radio links will be used by both spacecraft to transfer data gathered by their scientific instruments and on-board subsystems, providing information on flight status and overall health.

The GSM standard is the most popular modulation standard for mobile phone networks in the world. According to the GSM Association, terrestrial GSM networks now cover more than 80% of the world's population in more than 212 countries and territories — and will soon extend some 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) further to the L2 Lagrange point (a gravitational stability point in the sun-Earth system), Herschel and Plank's final orbital destination.

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