From the very beginning, the blockchain industry has changed significantly: it is no longer just technology for initiates, but an independent and promising market that is already trying to reach the borders of our planet.
The ideas of freedom and decentralization, originally intended in the blockchain, are faced with the fact that, as a rule, the entire infrastructure is somehow centralized and controlled by strong market players. So, if any blockchain network threatens the monopolists, they can just “knock its feet from the earth”. That’s why advanced blockchain experts are working on launching a distributed network in space.
Perhaps the pioneer in the “space” blockchain was Blockstream. In the summer of 2017, they launched several space satellites in order to provide access to the Bitcoin network without having access to the Internet. Conversely, SpaceX of Elon Musk and his rival OneWeb are about to launch their own low-orbit satellite groups to provide broadband Internet access around the world. In 2018, researchers of the Hubble Space Telescope started testing a distributed network to process data from space. In September this year, the European Space Agency issued a 60,000 euros-grant to the crypto project SpaceChain, which was planned as a satellite blockchain system, many times more reliable than the “earth” equivalents. In July 2019, a group of crypto enthusiasts used the satellite messaging system and Blockstream blockchain technology to avoid news censorship.
As you can see, there are already many examples, but, of course, projects have a long way to go. There is a need for community support, safety guarantee, reliability of space systems and confidence in their decentralization. Finally, for the successful launch of a satellite, regulatory approval, a set of frequencies for communicating with the spacecraft and support of the country are still needed. In other words, “gravity” is still too strong and even makes you wonder if true decentralization exists.
In any case, an open platform, thanks to which any user can send any data through a network of satellites and pay only for what he sent, implies a much higher degree of independence. Such a network can be used as a secure channel for transferring information or as a platform for other projects, for example, a private blockchain or a public registry.
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