DOGE-1 Moon mission costs ‘non-trivial amount of millions’, reveals CEO

Elon Musk’s Dogecoin-funded mission to the moon next year will be supported by digital asset exchange Unizen in partnership with and Geometric Energy Corporation.

Unizen and GEC will create the DOGE-1 CubeSat – a miniature satellite that obtains information from space using cameras, sensors and mirrors – that will be launched into a lunar orbit.

GEC’s incubation at ZenX Labs is a first-of-its-kind example of scientific and tech teams working together, leveraging a unique crypto use case, and advancing the field of space exploration.

Dogecoin was the natural choice for GEC

Coin Rivet spoke with Samuel Reid – CEO of GEC – who said his company was proud to partner with Unizen on the crypto-funded mission.

Reid explained he felt that Dogecoin “was the unit of account to pay for the lunar launch service agreement because we were trying to become the first crypto paying customer of SpaceX’s and the natural choice was DOGE given the interest in it being ‘the people’s coin'”.

However, due to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), Reid told Coin Rivet that the cost of the mission was not public. Instead, he revealed “it was a non-trivial amount of millions”.

Talking about possible doubts and fears regarding the mission’s success, Reid said he trusted SpaceX as the launch service provider fully, as well as the subcontractors to pull through all deliverables needed in time for the flight to outer space.

He concluded that, in the future, GEC plans to continue to expand web3 connected space infrastructure with applications for space displays and SATCOM hardware.

Sean Noga, CEO of Unizen and the ZenX Incubator, explained GEC was one innovative and ambitious team with a vision for the future and a deep belief in ever-expanding use cases.

“XI Protocol is a ground-breaking evolution in how space infrastructure connects to distributed ledger technology,” he said.

“Initially, this technology will enable satellite-based, space display screens (driven by tokenised claims) and the untapped realm of Web3 connected data reporting rewards on SATCOM communication networks.”

Noga added that Unizen was thrilled to both incubate and onboard GEC’s XI Protocol to its strategic partners.

According to him, this deal will establish a number of firsts not only for the crypto community, but for the space community as well.

Application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth’s orbit

The launch agreement for a slot on a Q1 2022 SpaceX Falcon 9 was funded with Dogecoin, marking the first spacecraft launch paid for entirely with cryptocurrency.

Tom Ochinero, SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales called this mission a true demonstrator of the application of cryptocurrency beyond the orbit of Earth that will set the foundation for interplanetary commerce.

He added: “We’re excited to launch DOGE-1 to the Moon!”

SpaceX also has plans to send the first Ethereum node to ISS in a different mission.

One final record may be broken by DOGE-1 if it is launched within its Q1 2022 window. While more than 1,600 CubeSats have been launched to date, they have been launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is between 100 – 1,200 miles above Earth’s surface.

With a distance of nearly 250,000 miles, a launch to the moon is an order of magnitude more complex.

NASA’s CAPSTONE was set to be the first CubeSat to reach the moon, but it has been delayed a number of times and has a current launch date of late March 2022.

This means that DOGE-1 could be the first CubeSat in history to reach the moon, marking a significant achievement for global spaceflight.