Elon Musk's X, Samsung partner to send users photos taken from space
Samsung decided to test out the camera on its new Galaxy S24 smartphone by sending it into space to take pictures of the Earth — and X users have exclusive access to the snaps for a limited time.
The electronics giant and social media platform partnered up for the promotion that allows X users access through the end of March to request one of the 150 images the Galaxy S24 Ultra collected from U.S. locations using its zoom capabilities, including Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Sierra Nevada and Los Angeles.
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To gain access to the photos, X users simply engage with a post from @SamsungMobileUS and they will receive an aerial image taken by the Galaxy S24 in reply. The more users engage, the more pictures they get to see.
Samsung sent its new smartphone beyond the clouds on four specially-designed spacecraft made by commercial near space provider Sent into Space. The crafts were launched using stratospheric balloon canopies filled with lighter-than-air hydrogen.
A Samsung spokesperson told FOX Business that X also assisted in sending the phones into space to check out their capabilities, but did not specify how the social media company — owned by SpaceX founder Elon Musk — helped with the endeavor.
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To take the photos, a lightweight carbon-fiber skeleton centered on a core flight computer was used, which could support an array of handsets at multiple different angles and orientations using custom-designed 3D printed mounts.
Each craft rose to over 120,000 feet above the Earth, with every handset snapping photos throughout the duration.
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Once the team was ready to return the craft to the ground, they vented the gas and deployed parachutes. Each craft touched down in a remote location — at a speed of around 5 miles per hour — where they were retrieved.