Start-up sends Ethereum node to International Space Station

‘To the moon’ will soon be a bit closer for Hodl’ers. 400 kilometers closer to be precise, because for the first time an Ethereum node is leaving for the International Space Station. SpaceX is going to bring the node there.

The launch is expected to be performed on Thursday by SpaceX, which will then send a Falcon 9 with a Dragon freighter to the International Space Station. Part of that payload is “an Ethereum node” designed by the company Spacechain, a start-up experimenting with blockchain technologies in space travel. The company does not say exactly what form this node will take, but Spacechain is working together with Nanoracks, a hardware provider for space equipment. According to the company, it is the first time an Ethereum node has been used in space. The company Nexus Inc., a customer of Spacechain, will use the node for its services to perform transactions.

It is not the first time that the space sector has also had to believe in the great promises of the blockchain. In 2019, Spacechain already sent a hardware wallet to the ISS. It is difficult to find out exactly what the company wants to do with it. Spacechain previously received a subsidy from, among others, the European space agency ESA to further develop ‘commercial cases for satellite blockchain technology’. The company itself says that hardware in space would be safer from cyber-attacks than if it were baked “exclusively into centralized terrestrial infrastructure.” But whether that is really the case… Even the ISS does not appear to be untouchable for hackers.