PDAs in space

Stephen Withers
Monday, 29 January 2007 05:13

Science - Space

A European Space Agency trial has shown that PDAs are suitable platforms for 'real' applications used by astronauts, not just personal or entertainment software.

An application written by the ESA to calculate the time remaining before having to abandon the ISS following depressurisation was tested by astronaut Thomas Reiter during his almost six-month long mission on the International Space Station.

Currently undergoing NASA qualification testing, the PDA Depressurisation Application is expected to become one of the programs loaded on each astronaut's PDA.

Other functions that are or are being considered for porting to PDAs include the inventory management system that tracks the location of all items stored on the ISS, the procedures manual viewer (currently running on notebook computers), and crew-to-crew or crew-to-system voice communication.