Geometric Energy Corporation, the Canada-based manufacturing and logistics firm, has announced that it will be launching a Dogecoin-funded payload on one of SpaceX’s first rockets to the moon.
It has been reported that the company said its commercial satellite could be traveling to the moon as early as the first quarter of 2022 aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Weighing 40 kilograms, around 88 pounds, the payload is designed to “obtain lunar-spatial intelligence from sensors and cameras on-board with integrated communications and computational systems.”
Samuel Reid, the CEO of Geometric Energy, said:
“Having officially transacted with DOGE for a deal of this magnitude, Geometric Energy Corporation and SpaceX have solidified DOGE as a unit of account for lunar business in the space sector.”
Tom Ochinero, the Vice President of Commercial Sales for SpaceX, said:
“This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce.”
Likewise, neither SpaceX nor Geometric Energy specified how Dogecoin (DOGE) was used to fund the endeavor. The cost may refer in part to the development of the payload or include the funding to send it to the moon.
How many DOGE tokens do you think it costs to send just 1 kg to the moon? Geometric Energy Corporation will be launching a Dogecoin-funded payload on one of SpaceX’s first rockets to the moon. https://t.co/bCqkmPEBo4 — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 10, 2021
The report said that previous lunar missions have had significant price tags. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program’s Chang’e 4, the last vehicle to perform a soft landing on the lunar surface in 2019, cost 1.2 billion yuan, or around $172 million at the time, to send a 1,200-kg lander with a 140-kg rover to the moon. NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, a satellite launched to orbit the moon in 2013, carried a payload mass of 49.6 kg at a cost of roughly $280 million, including research and development, $5.6 million per kg, not accounting for the mass at launch.
Thus, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has repeatedly hinted, perhaps jokingly, on Twitter that Dogecoin will be the first cryptocurrency to “literally” reach the moon.
On the actual moon — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 24, 2021
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Independent | Republic World
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