Blockchains Will Now Be Based On The Moon?
Blockchains are an integral component inside the world of Cryptocurrency, learn why one company want to move them to the moon.
This article is more than 2 years old
If you thought NFT and crypto were confusing, you’d be genuinely perplexed by Lockheed Martin’s latest venture. The aerospace company plans to bring the blockchain, a decentralized online storage network, to space. As the company plans for futuristic life in outer space, a new place for economic opportunity is also unfolding with blockchains.
Though this seems like a completely unattainable goal, Lockheed Martin is already working towards making outer space life a reality. To bring blockchains up to space, the aerospace company is using the InterPlanetary File System. Created in 2015, the system works as a storage system where people worldwide can log and record files. Instead of Amazon and Google’s server farms, decentralized networks like blockchains rely on users instead of one overseeing organization or collective.
This type of blockchain was developed first by Protocol Labs, the same inventor of the Filecoin cryptocurrency. This particular crypto is given to those who create IPFS “nodes.” Nodes are individual servers made for one user to share and store content.
The InterPlanetary File System is different from other blockchains because of location-based technology. For other servers, file storage needs indication technology to find content on a server to send and gather it. For the IPFS, its technology is based on the file itself. So when you click on a file, the server can look through every place it’s hosted and then collects the file from that search. The server can extract the file from multiple servers simultaneously, pulling from users closest to you in proximity.
This way of retrieving information through IPFS is what Lockheed Martin wants to utilize in space. Instead of other blockchains, setting up IPFS nodes could help files circulate in space instead of needing to retrieve them from back on Earth. Martin’s primary goal is to provide economic independence in outer space instead of relying on Earth’s infrastructure. If the information could be retrieved seamlessly through local nodes, there wouldn’t be reliance on unreachable technology outside of outer space.
Lockheed Martin will join forces with Filecoin Foundation to invest in intergalactic blockchain technology. The two companies will complete an investigation in August to determine which spacecraft will be able to host the IPFS. The spacecraft will have to adequality hold the equipment for IPFS as well as be able to embark on missions that Lockheed Martin requires.
Utilizing IPFS has a few beneficial qualities that could keep it operating in harsh conditions. This type of blockchain is different from the standard HTTP because its users store data individually. This provides more security to its patrons since servers that go down on HTTP could affect other servers connected to it. With a decentralized storage unit like IPFS, server breakdowns would have less potential to interfere with surrounding sites.
Governments also find it tricky to tamper with IPFS and its decentralized blockchain. In 2017, Turkey banned Wikipedia usage for all of its citizens. But shortly after the site was restricted, the entire contents were posted on IPFS, which the government could not censor. The storage system utilizes open source technology and user file deposits to have content available in multiple areas of the internet. Since one single address can obtain a specific file from thousands of sources, it’s harder for any government to take down or censor information.
