Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, decentralized data and Space Industry are all buzzwords we've seen floating around in recent years. Still, the technology is so unique that it's hard to see straight applications to our lives, even in space exploration. But blockchain and space have more levels than you might expect.
These concepts all describe a different way of storing data, decentralized, meaning it employs a shared database, transparent, allowing users to see changes to the database and secure.
Within this sort of system, users have representations of the data and, because data in a blockchain is stocked with cryptographic algorithms, blockchain is challenging to hack.
Open an account as you know the most widespread use of Cryptocurrency has been in the economic sector. Now, cryptocurrency has other applications too. It can be used for space application. One of these potential applications is supply chains, which could track sources during space mining or handle big space construction plans. Another such application could be with energy to store and control energy production and consumption by space operations.
The space division can also give an essential contribution to the development and broader use of blockchain, prominently through the use of satellites as nodes in the chain – either as participating nodes that store data or validating nodes that validate and add data. In addition, you can utilize satellites to receive, store and broadcast blockchain data and apps. Hence, satellite networks can be applied as the infrastructure where you save data and perform transactions.
While these potential uses are encouraging, blockchain is already used in space. The first satellite to utilize the technology was Blockstream, which commenced in 2017 to distribute bitcoin worldwide. On the defence side, blockchain was first used in space by SpaceChain in 2018.
SpaceChain's satellite was created for a satellite-based blockchain system that demands communication with a satellite to complete a transaction in the database.
It was quite a vital mission because this formed the foundation for SpaceChain, which plans to launch a constellation of satellites to establish a blockchain-based operating system. More major space-y blockchain activity could be coming presently, too. For example, Ravichandran pointed to Planetary Resources (an asteroid mining company) by ConsenSys (a significant blockchain company) in 2018. That deal prompted major predictions that blockchain will support asteroid mining using a process called 'tokenization,' which digitizes physical assets to store on a blockchain database.
After the acquisition, ConsenSys originated a ConsenSys Space subsidiary, headed by Chris Lewicki, the CEO of Planetary Resources. The subsidiary launched TruSat is a blockchain-based database. It will control and monitor the orbital positions of satellites, which could be all the more crucial as large fleets of satellites launch under organizations such as SpaceX and Amazon. More satellites will carry a higher risk of collision, which could generate orbital debris.
There is no public satellite database, and the US Air Force owns the only one. Hence, this database is pretty significant, and the fact that it is decentralized provides for a neutral, unbiased place for capturing the positions of the satellites in orbit. The blockchain industry is still developing, and all of its viable applications cannot be predicted. Still, all space industries could benefit from it in applications such as financial technology, government satellite communications, broadcasting, and Internet access.
It is foreseen that satellite communication works and points to feasibility considerations with launcher and satellite fabrication companies for supply chain tracking and management. The European Space Agency also issued a whitepaper in 2019 which discusses potential blockchain applications in Earth observation as users share data. As blockchain goes into outer space, its ability to tokenize spacecraft and payloads is key to its success, which could help in massive upcoming space projects such as the international, collaborative Gateway space station NASA wants to build in lunar orbit.
Large databases accomplish this by housing data on servers that are composed of powerful computers. These servers can sometimes be built using hundreds or thousands of processors to have the computational potential and storage capacity required for many users to obtain the database simultaneously. While a spreadsheet or database may be accessible to many people, it is often owned by a business and managed by an appointed individual who has complete control over how it works and the data within it.
With blockchain, you can commercialize space exploration quicker and more efficiently. For example, tokenizing a spacecraft would allow different entities to build various spacecraft components, giving institutions like NASA and ESA, the European Space Agency. It must procure things efficiently, with much more transparency and traceability.
Blockchain has regulatory concerns associated with it that will require to be figured out first, including the nature of cryptocurrency tokens and implementing data protection. That said, the European Union is among the entities examining the legal issues of blockchain to get more clarity shortly.