GoKawiilEarlier this year, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed that astronauts on the Artemis II mission would be allowed to ”fly with the latest smartphones.” Now, The New York Times has reported what it took to make that happen.
No connectivity, just photos and videos
Right now, there are four iPhones 17 Pro Max zipping towards the moon at about 25,000 mph.
And although this is not the first time an iPhone has been on a space mission, Artemis II marks the first time NASA has given each crew member an iPhone so they can take photos and videos.
Apple said it wasn’t involved with NASA’s process for approving iPhones for the Artemis II mission. The company said the mission was the first time an iPhone had fully qualified for extended use in orbit and beyond.
In fact, taking photos and videos is pretty much all the devices can do, since NASA has confirmed to The Times that they “can’t connect to the internet or use Bluetooth.”
But clearing them for flight wasn’t a trivial task, according to the report:
“Typically, the process has four phases, (Tobias Niederwieser, an assistant research professor at BioServe Space Technologies) said. The first introduces the piece of hardware to a safety panel. The second identifies the potential hazards of the hardware, which ranges from moving parts to materials like glass that could shatter. The third lays out a plan for addressing such hazards. The fourth proves that the plan works.”
The iPhone 17 Pro Max features Ceramic Shield 2 on the front and Ceramic Shield on the back. According to Apple, Ceramic Shield 2 is “tougher than any smartphone glass.”
But shatterability wasn’t the only aspect NASA had to consider, per the NYT report:
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