Bitcoin core developer Jeff Garzik’s company Dunvegan Space Systems has inked a deal with its partner Deep Space Industries Inc., to put mini satellites into orbit.
The idea of providing secure, remote backup of the digital currency’s critical data in space was first disclosed nearly a year ago. The collaboration aims to construct a constellation of 24 BitSats. Deep Space Industries has a strong reputation in the market for its involvement in commercial spacecraft projects but is particularly known for its ambitious plans to develop asteroid mining.
With Bitcoin expected to gain prominence throughout the upcoming years, and the blockchain ledger growing almost exponentially, Dunvegan expects the satellites to serve as crucial “full nodes” to backup Bitcoin’s core database.
Mr. Garzik has also announced that the customers can avail the premium services at a price. The customers can use the services for proprietary data storage and communications purposes. The companies which choose the space-based operation for keeping their most sensitive data protected from hacking attempts will have to shell out $1 million for one BitSat. The complete 24-unit constellation comes with an expensive price tag of $19 million.
Bitcoin community was earlier expecting the project to be a public utility aimed at securing the cryptocurrency’s decentralized network, to which Mr. Garzik said,
“As programmers, we are always asking that higher-level question: how can you solve that problem and at the same time several other problems? And that’s where the revenue model came from.”
Even though BitSat’s nano-satellites measure – 10 cm x 10 cm x 30 cm – in length, they are still larger than the earlier specifications of 10x10x10. The small size of the units makes the operation extremely cost-effective.
Mr. Garzik is a part of the five-member team which initially envisioned having the BitSats mine for Bitcoin rewards in space.