The moment of truth has arrived for NASA’s Perseverance rover after a grueling seven-month, 470-million-kilometer journey from Earth.
The car-sized remote-controlled robot — the centerpiece of the U.S. space agency’s $2.7 billion Mars 2020 mission — will scour for signs of life and gather samples from the Red Planet’s hostile surface for future return back home.
Theta Network, the leading video delivery platform powered by blockchain technology, will be at the forefront in commemorating the landing of the six-wheeled wanderer on Mars on February 18.
Rare collectibles
As part of the celebration and excitement, Theta will be minting special collectibles and rare NASA-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs) when it live-streams the much-awaited spectacle on Theta.tv, according to a Theta media release.
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a special type of digital token which represents something distinct; NFTs are thus not mutually interchangeable, in contrast to virtual assets like bitcoin, that are “interchangeable” in nature.
Theta endeavors to make its presence known in that digital space. The NFTs will feature a limited edition of one Badge and one Emote in connection with the NASA mission.
Excitement builds
A record in space exploration is about to be made just days from now. If the spacecraft lands in one piece, it may become the first-ever powered flight on another planet.
“We are super excited to be offering these rare NFT collectibles to celebrate NASA’s landing on Mars,” Kyle Laffey, chief of Partnerships at Theta Labs, said in the release.
“Our audience goes wild for NASA TV content and these rare mission-themed NFT collectibles are a perfect fit to our blockchain streaming and video platform,” Laffey added.
Official partners and validators
Theta Network is one of NASA TV’s official partners in streaming since April 2019 and has been delivering live coverage of the latest exciting events like the launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this past Spring.
Some of the big names that Theta is collaborating with as “external enterprise validators” include search giant Google, Korean tech behemoth Samsung, digital exchange Binance, Blockchain Ventures and gumi — all involved in the complex process of building new blocks on the Theta blockchain.
Witness history in the making beginning at 2:15pm EST. Special NFTs will be given by Theta.tv to active participants in the chat during the live stream.
Image courtesy of Theta Labs/YouTube Screenshot