Astronaut Chris Hadfield wants to get a blockchain into space

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on the future of blockchain in space, from satellite nodes to observing mining on the moon.

The space industry is another frontier that blockchain has to conquer. Chris Hadfield, a retired Canadian astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station, thinks the technology is the right thing to do.

A new space race is on the horizon. It is attended by players such as America, Russia, India and China, alongside private companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin. “If you look at the space program of China, or America, Russia, India, or anyone else, it’s a really complex problem with thousands of moving parts,” Hadfield said in a recent interview with Forkast. “If you make a mistake, you will kill people or cause billions of dollars in damage.”

Blockchain and similar technologies are, according to Hadfield, a “natural application” for controlling the origin of data that passes through the system, from assembling and operating vehicles, launching rockets into space to control them.

Launch of blockchain satellites into orbit

In addition to spaceflight, the blockchain is also used for space applications. Companies like Blockstream, SpaceChain and Consensys Space are sending nanosatellite blockchain nodes into orbit; in 2018, SpaceChain successfully tested blockchain transactions between the orbiting node and the ground station.

“People are starting to realize that you can set up a node structure using a blockchain asset in orbit created for a specific task,” Hadfield said. “That’s one side of things, the use of geometry and insulation. It’s attractive in terms of blockchain security and globalization. ” Blockchain, as Hadfield says, is one of many “natural consequences of increased access costs, increased reliability, and understanding for sending things into orbit around the Earth and operating them.”

Blockchain on the moon

Astronaut Hadfield, a keynote speaker at the upcoming Asia Blockchain Summit, believes that with the moon’s mining infrastructure, there is also the potential to gain trillions of wealth – and that the blockchain could be a key part of the mining infrastructure.

“On the Moon, we find things that are extremely valuable or have market value for businesses and people on Earth,” Hadfield said. “This is where we have to look ahead: how can we set up the infrastructure to support this?” According to Hadfield, this is an “amazing market” for progressive computer technology. “It’s a great opportunity for a blockchain,” he added. “No one knows for sure where we’re going, but I don’t think anyone can predict what the opportunities will be.”

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