Finnish global software and service design studio Reaktor is going to launch the world’s first satellite carrying a Node.js server. The launch will open up satellites as a platform for a worldwide community of coders.
Hello World – Reaktor’s privately launched satellite for earth observation, will carry a node.js server when it launches late 2016 — to enable its functions to be programmed using JavaScript, one of the most common multi-purpose programming language.
“As a software company, we want the space industry to benefit from the vast skills available in the software community. Small satellites are bringing the cost base down, and the next step is to bring down the barrier of entry from the technical perspective,” says Jussi Liukkonen, Director of Space and Robotics.
Reaktor is setting up ground stations with antennas on the rooftops of their offices in Helsinki, New York and Tokyo. The company cannot guarantee if everything onboard will work as the mission is purely experimental, but it said the result should give a good understanding of full software stack usable in orbit.
Read more in their blog here.
