"I can influence the guidance and navigation of the aircraft, " he told the BBC, adding that the system had "limitations".

BBC: Hacker targets flight deck computer systems

The company hasn't said which handset will be used in the satellite, but they chose Android because it allows engineers to easily modify the phone to do their bidding -- from controlling pulse plasma thrusters to handling the advanced guidance and navigation systems of the foot long satellite.

ENGADGET: SSTL using Android handsets to control satellites, conquer the final frontier

Technologies being tested in the program include advanced guidance, navigation and control, thermal protection systems, avionics, high temperature structures and seals, conformal reusable insulation, lightweight electromechanical flight systems, and autonomous orbital flight, reentry and landing.

ENGADGET: USAF relaunches its first X-37B on a slightly less mysterious spaceflight

Its cockpit electronics were a messy hodgepodge of separate navigation, guidance, autopilot and weather systems--five or ten years behind the times.

FORBES: Top Gun