NASA is looking to hire a data scientist with crypto and blockchain expertise.

Crypto and blockchain considered a plus

According to a LinkedIn job listing posted on Sept. 20, NASA has a vacancy at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, whose primary function is the construction and operation of planetary robotic spacecraft and conducting Earth-orbit missions.

Among the high number of required qualifications, NASA listed knowledge in one or more related fields including big data, machine learning, Internet of Things, analytics, statistics and cloud computing. In a separate line, the agency sought experience with cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, stating that such qualifications will be considered a plus.

The listed qualifications are supposed to be implemented by the data scientist in designing and implementing a program for analyzing complex, large-scale data sets used for research, modeling, data mining and predictive analysis at NASA, the agency wrote.

NASA on blockchain

The major global aerospace agency is not new to blockchain technology. In January 2019, NASA proposed an air traffic management blockchain framework in order to enable secure, private and anonymous communication with air traffic services.

In April 2018, NASA awarded a grant supporting the development of an autonomous spacecraft that could implement blockchain technology to make decisions without human intervention.