Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has set ambitious goals for Mars exploration.
He recently announced that SpaceX plans to launch unmanned Starship missions to Mars within the next two years, aiming for a landing by late 2026. These missions will test the spacecraft’s landing capabilities before sending crewed missions.
Musk continues to target a manned Mars mission within four years and envisions building a self-sustaining city on the Red Planet within about 20 years.
Musk acknowledges that the primary challenges for Mars colonisation are cost and technology.
Currently, transporting a metric tonne of payload to Mars costs about $1 billion. To establish a self-sufficient city, this cost needs to drop to $100,000 per tonne, a reduction of 10,000 times. While this is an extremely difficult goal, Musk believes it is achievable.
Read more: Will Elon Musk-Themed X Empire Surpass Hamster Kombat’s Popularity? Telegram Game Teases End of Mining and Airdrop
Blockchain’s Potential in Space: Enhancing NASA’s Logistics and Communications with Smart Contracts
Blockchain technology could play a crucial role in supporting Musk’s vision.
NASA's research highlights the potential of blockchain in improving space logistics and communications. Specifically, blockchain can enhance coordination, execution, and verification of data exchanges between satellites.
Blockchain’s smart contracts and distributed ledger technology could solve key issues such as:
- Managing collective computational tasks like data analysis
- Coordinating dynamic and autonomous observation plans
- Handling time-sensitive events
- Tracking and verifying operations both on Earth and in space
In this context, blockchain could enable encrypted command transmissions and improve operational efficiency through automated, event-triggered actions.
Read more: Donald Trump’s Free Speech War Gets a Boost from Elon Musk as 2024 Election Heats Up
Future Prospects for Blockchain with SpaceX
As a leading private space company, SpaceX might be well-positioned to integrate blockchain technology into its satellite and spacecraft management systems. Observing whether SpaceX adopts blockchain for its space missions will be important in the coming years.
While blockchain presents intriguing possibilities for space missions, its practical implementation in this domain remains speculative and would require significant development and validation.