YouTuber partners with Google for space selfie stunt
Launching a satellite into orbit, YouTuber Mark Rober is offering fans the chance to take a selfie with Earth in the background.
Popular YouTuber and former NASA engineer Mark Rober has unveiled a unique project: a satellite designed to take selfies with Earth as the backdrop. Partnering with Google and T-Mobile, Rober plans to launch the satellite aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 12 mission in January 2025. Users can upload their selfies to be displayed on a Google Pixel aboard the satellite, which will snap their portrait alongside the planet when it passes over their location.
Accessing the ‘Earth selfie’ is free for subscribers of CrunchLabs, Rober’s educational engineering kit program, as well as T-Mobile customers and Google Pixel users with special codes. Codes can be redeemed starting 3 December at spaceselfie.com, and participants will receive updates on when their photo will be taken.
The satellite itself features innovative engineering, including solar arrays and dual Google Pixel phones for redundancy. To overcome challenges in orientation, Rober’s team equipped the satellite with a flywheel to shift its position for tasks like photo capture and data transmission. Rober’s latest YouTube video provides a deeper dive into the satellite’s mechanics.
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