DOGE-1 moon mission set for SpaceX launch in early 2022

DOGE-1 will reportedly be the first cryptocurrency-funded mission to the moon. The launch of the moon mission is now scheduled for early next year.

CubeSat of 40 kilograms

The launch is the result of a collaboration between two blockchain companies and a manufacturer called ‘Geometric Energy Corporation’, or GEC for short.

The other blockchain companies, Unizen and ZenX, have announced that they are building and launching DOGE-1. This is reportedly going to be a CubeSat of about 40 kilograms, which will become a new use case for cryptocurrencies. The CubeSat will travel to stable lunar orbit to obtain “lunar spatial intelligence” from sensors and cameras that will be sent back to GEC for analysis. Cubesats are nanosatellites, with standardized dimensions, which can provide different use cases.

The CubeSat will be sent to space through a partnership with SpaceX FalconX and is currently planned for the first quarter of 2022. In total, more than 1,600 CubeSats have already been sent into space. However, DOGE-1 differs from this in that it will travel further from Earth. Where ‘regular’ CubeSats are between 100 and 1,200 miles from Earth, at DOGE-1 this rises to about 250,000 miles from Earth.

DOGE-1 may be the first CubeSat on the moon

Initially, NASA would be the company with the first CubeSat to be sent to the moon. However, this has already been delayed several times. As a result, NASA’s CAPSTONE launch is scheduled for late March 2022. This could mean DOGE-1 launches ahead of NASA’s CAPSTONE. However, no firm date has yet been set for DOGE-1’s launch, but it would still be a huge milestone.

Last May, it was announced that Dogecoin would fund the project, with a planned launch date in the first quarter of 2022. The project made huge progress as a result. SpaceX’s vice president said at the time that the “mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth’s orbit and lay the groundwork for interplanetary commerce.” ElonMusk has also confirmed the launch of DOGE-1 via a tweet on Twitter.