Debris-Dodging Spacecraft Could Use Bitcoin-Like Technology

space.com ^ | April 18, 2018 | Elizabeth Howell

[BenLurkin]

Wei Kocsis' early-stage research would be especially useful in deep-space environments, where spacecraft communicating back to Earth must currently wait for hours for a response. Instead, her work would enable the spacecraft to perform tasks using blockchain technology.

In the digital-currency world, blockchain is used to record transactions securely, without the need of a central management database such as a bank. There are many variants of digital currencies, but the most popular is known as Bitcoin. The new work uses technology incorporated into a different digital currency, called Ethereum, that not only records transactions but also can execute decentralized code, such as automatically running a transaction when conditions are met.

Wei Kocsis' NASA Early Career Faculty grant would use Ethereum blockchain technology for these self-executing contracts, also called "smart contracts," to enhance digital decision-making in spacecraft. "In this project, the Ethereum blockchain technology will be exploited to develop a decentralized, secure, and cognitive networking and computing infrastructure for deep space exploration," she said.

...[T]his project does mark the first time that NASA has explored blockchain applications for space communications and navigation, said Thomas Kacpura...

In an interview with ETHNews, he noted that if blockchain technology works in this context, it "would support decentralized processing among NASA space network nodes in a secure fashion," and added that the network could be scaled for future growth.

[LouieFisk]

“Debris-Dodging Spacecraft Could Use Bitcoin-Like Technology”
—
They gonna build a spacecraft outta nothing, then?

[Pearls Before Swine]

No, the spacecraft will be guided by the Bitcoin Price Index. Warning, it may soar high for a time, but it may also crash and burn on re-entry.

[RegulatorCountry]

Wow, this proves that “investing” in Bitcoin is a brilliant move. Do I need a sarc tag?

[LouieFisk]

"No, the spacecraft will be guided by the Bitcoin Price Index. Warning, it may soar high for a time, but it may also crash and burn on re-entry."
--
Aren't we wascals?!

[snarkpup]

So it will use astronomical amounts of electricity, supercharged by crowd madness?

[Vermont Lt]

Ping the technically ignorant masses.

[BenLurkin]

Ping ‘em? I am ‘em!

[Muntic0re]

I think that it will bring more popularity to BTC. More and more countries, services are started accepting and trying to regulate cryptocurrency. Considering the experts opinion from ICO Pulse source it will bring many positive features to the crypto market. As for me, I started investing in BTC about 6 years ago, since then I know that binance is one of the Best sites to buy Bitcoin. I am not a fan of mining, it's a time-consuming process.