“DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon” will be launched by SpaceX in the first quarter of next year, and the aerospace company will accept the cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE) as payment for its lunar payload.
Last Sunday, Geometric Energy Corporation made the announcement about the Dogecoin-funded mission and was later confirmed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. However, neither company has shared information about the mission’s financial value.
According to CNBC, Tom Ochinero, Vice President of Commercial Sales for SpaceX, DOGE-1 “will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce.” They are excited about the launch, he said.
The mission
A 40-kilogram cube satellite will be delivered to a Falcon 9 rocket as payload by the DOGE-1. According to Geometric Energy, the satellite will gather lunar-spatial intelligence from onboard sensors and cameras equipped with advanced communications and computational systems.
It can be recalled that last April, Musk made headlines about a tweet he made on April Fool’s Day. He wrote, “SpaceX is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon.”
The announcement about the project came after Musk debuted as host for Saturday Night Live (SNL) that was followed by a sudden drop in the price of Dogecoin (DOGE), which fell to as low as 45 cents. As of this writing, the joke currency made a slight recovery, trading at just over $0.53.
SpaceX makes new record
SpaceX, for its share of records and history, attained one when it landed the Falcon 9 rocket’s booster for the 10th time. Elon Musk considers this as a breakthrough for progress in reusing SpaceX’s rockets.
Back in 2018, Musk said the Falcon 9 is designed to do 10 or more flights with no refurbishments and is capable of at least 100 flights before being scrapped.
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