The launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, an upgraded version of Falcon 9, has marked an important milestone in space exploration. It proved to be cheaper and more effective ($90 million to launch a 63,800 kg payload to Low Earth Orbit) but more importantly, it is the most powerful rocket launched by a private company as opposed to a government agency.

While we all love space and dream of exploring outer planets and stars one day as citizens, we are used to sitting back and observing governments and corporations take the driver’s seat. Human space exploration has been historically known as a “space race” between the nations, namely between the Soviet Union and United States.

Yet what the successful Falcon Heavy launch just proved is that we are closer to the stars than we think, and that space will no longer be a race between nations alone. In fact, Elon Musk just asked for a “new space race”.

Although in a recent article on The Guardian written by Van Badham, and tucked between headlines “Space exploration should be an initiative of nations, not just some rich guy”, there is a nice passage that states:

…when it comes to the field of human endeavour, and unshackling ourselves from what the father of cosmonautics, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky called “the cradle of humanity” in which we cannot live forever, the initiative of space exploration to unseen heights, farthest reaches and worlds beyond our world should perhaps be one of states, communities and united peoples…

While most of us at Space Cooperative are quite thrilled about SpaceX’s advancements and are comfortable with venture funding in space technology, we think that there is another way where in fact space exploration can be an endeavor of united peoples.

Blockchain technology as a building block for democratic presence of humans in space

Current advancement in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency allows us to govern space exploration ourselves for the first time. Blockchain, a public distributed ledger, is primarily known for starting this technological revolution with the first application of bitcoin as a cryptocurrency. The technology’s potential extends far beyond financial and monetary decentralization, however. Blockchain allows for the true democratization and global borderless governance by using technology called smart contracts.

Smart contracts allow us to create transparent financial records while executing predetermined agreements and locking funds until agreement terms are met. No human or entity can meddle with the agreement once a smart contract is executed. This powerful mechanism allows us to self-govern as autonomous organizations for the first time in human history. These are the primary building blocks of Space Decentral.

Space Decentral will use blockchain for its true purpose to achieve democratic presence of humans in space. It will operate as a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) powered by smart contracts that establish accessibility and transparency to voting rights. Anyone with Internet access can purchase tokens and participate in the network to make collective decisions. In the Space Decentral DAO, citizens can unite and collaborate on the future of space exploration, using tokens to vote on issues such as capital allocations, project proposals, and even determining forms of future Mars governance. Our members think that DAOs will be integral to how future societies govern themselves.

Authors: Anya Degtyarenko, Munpriya Samra, Yalda Mousavinia

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Image credit: NASA/JPL