The partnership between NASA, Lonestar, and the Isle of Man aims to create an immutable and transparent record of lunar activities using blockchain technology
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The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is partnering with a Florida-based computing startup, Lonestar, and the Isle of Man (the self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea), for a project that pioneers the use of blockchain technology in NASA’s upcoming lunar missions.
The collaboration targets the use of blockchain technology to verify and secure data storage on the moon. It explicitly focuses on the upcoming Artemis missions.
In February 2024, NASA, Lonestar, and the Isle of Man plan to send a payload to the moon containing “data cubes.” These data cubes will store crucial information, and their integrity will be verified using blockchain technology upon their return to Earth. The ultimate goal is to use the same blockchain technology to provide irrefutable proof that humans have landed on the moon during NASA’s Artemis 3 mission in 2025.
Before Artemis 3, NASA’s Artemis program will reach its second phase with the launch of Artemis 2 in November 2024. While Artemis 2 will involve a crewed mission, it won’t involve landing on the moon’s surface. Instead, the mission will see four astronauts depart from the earth, orbit the moon, and return. This mission is the final test before the U.S. government proceeds with Artemis 3 to send humans to the moon’s surface again.
As one of the many scientific missions during the Artemis voyages, Lonestar and the Isle of Man will also come together to develop long-term lunar storage systems that rely on solar power and require no extra infrastructure.