The 4.3 kg (9.5 lb) nanosatellite was launched into orbit on board a PSLV Rocket from India on February 25, 2013,[1][2] Smartphones have flown in space before inside the International Space Station, and the computer from a PDA launched inside two Japanese CubeSats in 2006 and 2008.

[3] As a result, NASA's PhoneSats (Alexander, Graham and Bell) were the first smartphone satellites to work in space,[3] despite having been launched two months later than STRaND-1.

There was a public contest in August 2011 to create "space apps" to run on various satellite smartphones, including NASA's PhoneSat series.

[3][5] The smartphone was intended to provide cameras, accelerometers and high-performance computer processors - almost everything except solar panels and propulsion.

During the first phase of the mission, STRaND-1 was intended to use a number of experimental apps to collect data, while a new high-speed Linux-based CubeSat computer developed by SSC takes care of the satellite.