by Key takeaways
- Former NASA engineer and well-known YouTuber Mark Rober is launching a satellite so he may shoot selfies with the view of Earth in the background.
- In January 2025, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch the satellite, which is named SAT GUS.
- Selfies can be uploaded by participants to be seen.
Mark Rober is well-known for his mechanical prowess and imaginative YouTube initiatives, including shooting selfies into space.
Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer, is working with Google and T-Mobile to launch SAT GUS, a satellite. The purpose of the satellite is to take pictures of uploaded selfies with the Earth in the background.
In January 2025, it will take off on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. A few months after launch, the space selfie satellite will start capturing pictures while orbiting at a height of about 600 kilometers above Earth. When the satellite is over their city, participants will be notified, enabling them to appear in their photo twice: once on Earth and once digitally on the satellite’s screen.
Users must upload their selfies with a code in order to take part. Codes can be acquired by donations to STEM education initiatives, CrunchLabs memberships, or specific T-Mobile and Google Pixel promotions. Participants can upload their images and track their selfie schedules at spaceselfie.com, where coupons can be redeemed starting on December 3.
Codes will be available for redemption at spaceselfie.com beginning on December 3, 2024. They will upload their images, which will be shown with the Earth photobombing in the background on a Pixel phone on board the satellite. Rober promises a novel twist: he will notify participants when the satellite is over their city, allowing them to go outside and maybe make two appearances in their pictures.
Although the project presents itself as “free,” there is a catch. Participants must sponsor a young engineer for $30, have a CrunchLabs subscription, or receive an invitation via Google Pixel or T-Mobile in order to be eligible.
The satellite’s hardware will consist of a flywheel mechanism for accurate navigation and two Google Pixel phones positioned on either side for redundancy. To make sure it can take selfies and send data back to Earth, the spacecraft will be powered by a solar array.
