Man creates his own satellite to take space selfies with Earth

If you have ever dreamed of taking a space selfie from above, former NASA engineer turned YouTuber Mark Rober is working on a new project that should make that dream come true. Rober has built his own satellite, SAT GUS, which is fitted with the required hardware to take selfies from space.

Google is one of the partners, and the satellite literally has a Pixel phone glued to it inside a radiation-resistant case. No, it won't be used to take selfies; instead, it will be used as a high-resolution screen to display the image in front of the camera.

You can take part in the project through the Space Selfie website and get your selfie clicked. As part of the process, you need to upload an image that will be sent to the SAT GUS satellite. The onboard camera hardware will photograph you with the Earth in the background and send it back.

The selfie satellite will be blasted into space using Space X Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California (USA). It will be on board the Transport 12 mission in January 2025 and will start taking space selfies in a few months after being deployed in low-Earth orbit at about 600 km from the blue planet.

You can send any original image for the selfie, as long as it's kid and family-friendly and you own or have sharing rights. It could be a solo photo, a group snap, or a photo of your furry friend.

Now, the Space Selfie is being marketed as "free," but everything comes at a price. Some T-Mobile customers can get a free code via the T-Life app on December 3rd. Select Google Pixel customers are also eligible for the code through invites, as per the website (you can track updates on the @teampixel Instagram account).

Codes are also available for those who want to sponsor a future engineer for $30 or have a subscription to CrunchLabs, which typically starts at $30/box for the quarterly plan. CrunchLabs was founded by Mark and offers build kits for kids.

The unique code can be redeemed on the Space Selfie website, where you'll be asked to upload your selfie and provided an email to track its status. Rober explained that the photo would be taken when the satellite is above your city. You will be notified when the image will be snapped so you can go outside and technically get in the selfie twice.

SAT GUS can snap about 1,000 photos in a day, and the limited slots will be processed on a first-come, first-serve basis. It has two fixed solar panels that dump their power into some 120 Wh batteries. Rober noted that the satellite has another camera and Pixel phone set to ensure the selfie project doesn't derail if something goes wrong with the primary camera.

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