Jeff Garzik Announces Partnership to Launch Bitcoin Satellites into Space

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by Konstantin Lazarev · 3 min read
Jeff Garzik Announces Partnership to Launch Bitcoin Satellites into Space
BitSats will essentially be customize CubeSats, which are miniature satellites about 10 centimeters in diameter that weigh about a kilo, and can be attached to other spacecraft launched from Earth. Photo: iStockphoto

Bitcoin lovers hope a new initiative from Dunvegan Space Systems and Deep Space Industries Inc. will make the digital currency more secure and easier to access after the two companies announced they will take the peer-to-peer financial system into space.

Such a new developing industry as bitcoin is full of big ideas and it is always interesting to see the introduction of innovations.

In the end of last year there was little information given by Jeff Garzik about his plans to launch bitcoin mini-satellites into space.

Today, Jeff Garzik, a bitcoin core developer, has announced that his Dunvegan Space Systems has formed a partnership with a company called Deep Space Industries Inc and they are currently planning to build satellites called ‘BitSats’.

The satellites as a part of orbital system will be broadcasting the bitcoin block chain from space, according to the press release.

Moreover, the non-profit endeavor plans to have a node in space as a back-up plan in case of terrestrial failure for the Bitcoin Network “enhancing the resiliency of bitcoin in the event of disruptions or outages to the terrestrial bitcoin P2P mesh network”.

Garzik mentioned in his announcement: “Private spaceflight is breaking big, driving down costs so that great ideas like BitSats are within reach of even volunteer nonprofits. “We want to keep bitcoin healthy and free by finding alternative ways to distribute block chain data.”

The Plan

The plan is still not fully organized, but the main idea of a BitSat project is to build bitcoin satellites based on the CubeSat modular standard, which means making it small, only 10cm on all sides.

The BitSats will be launched as hitchhikers on larger payloads into orbit, providing transaction information via solved blocks.

Garzik says: “I believe space holds the promise of our future, and also offers a lot of utility right now.”

The main goal of a project is to provide its users the ability to access the information from space via a downlink from the satellites.

This downlink will be provided by a vendor, nevertheless bitcoin fans will be able to set up their own receiving equipment.

Donation Effort

The first time when Garzik told CoinDesk about the idea was in December last year. To realize this idea will require a large amount of funds. In order to fund the project, Garzik is currently collecting money via donations.

You can check on the progress of the BitSat project as well as participate in Google Group discussion regarding the project and it’s development.

Since its launch today’s morning, the bitcoin wallet has already collected a bit more than $100 from donation fund. Garzik has previously estimated the project’s cost to be about $2 million.

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