blockchain@space - forward to a better future

Photo by Brandon Wong on Unsplash

What can blockchain technology in Space do for humanity?

Bringing this technology together with low orbit satellites, such as CubeSats or nanosats, may also mean democratizing access to space resources to all of its users, towards building a fairer and more humanitarian society. Simply put, blockchain could bring greater integrity and trust in decentralized storing and accessing data in satellites.

In practice, it all sounds like a big utopia, considering data regulation and ownership restrictions. How can we make this work?

As for the technical side of the matter, preset conditions from ‘smart contracts’ in blockchain would enable satellites and systems to autonomously negotiate and realize transactions, considering criteria, such as price of customers’ willingness to pay for a given image or how fast it is needed. Even new payment services for satellite costs could be generated by its users, owners, and the satellite themselves.

If you imagine a universal sharing economic model in Space due to blockchain technology implemented in satellites, we would get quicker, cheaper, and more distributed access to remote sensing data captured by satellites.

What does it mean for our society and the environment?  

Pinning down the benefits of this idea is not so difficult: from monitoring weather, transit, and traffic conditions, to better forecast economic indicators - everyone, not just elites, but also, local farmers or remote villages could benefit so much from this information in real-time.

Even remote communities could support themselves and fund their own broadband or better manage local natural resources by being aware of environmental conditions, such as the probability of floods or droughts. Also, knowing the volume of cars in a shopping center may give a prediction of consumer confidence, while tracking the location of trains or oil tankers may give a more accurate prediction of economic output.

With blockchain’s data integrity and low-cost mechanism, civic organizations can trust that the imagery received is reliable and that their ownership stake in the data provided by the satellite is secure, providing them with fair compensation.

The decentralized encryption from blockchain will ensure that the data has not been altered when, for example, an NGO wants to prove the credibility of the data used for a climate change campaign; or when farmers want to make informed decisions about when to plant, harvest or purchase goods.

Looking forward to a better future

A sharing economy in Space powered by blockchain systems in satellites may remain a utopia or show unpredictable outcomes, either positive or negative.

Yet, the signs are clear: the falling costs of space-based communications and sensor data, along with the development of blockchain ‘smart contracts’ in space systems is making this segment increasingly more mature. Like the internet-based technologies, it will become scalable and a common platform to enable innovators to experiment with new business ideas and social models.

As the LEO satellite network expands with greater intelligence, autonomy, and reliability, promoted by blockchain technology, the Space industry will completely revolutionize the way we think about data and will contribute to the transformation already happening in the systems behind space mission operations.

Benefitting from these technologies for a more sustainable, just, and humane future for our society is up to a proactive action from the organizations and governments that can spread them beyond the elite groups, reaching the wider society. This would not be an easy process, considering technical, legal, security, ownership, privacy, and equity issues.

However, more than ever, governments and business leaders have the technological resources to start this change and transform a Space sharing economy from utopia to a viable reality.

Article written by Teresa Duarte @ VisionSpace