Very often, Space and the vastness of the Cosmos appear as distant themes, not without interest, but incapable of producing real effects in our lives. However, with the latest technological revolution, this view no longer holds true.
Each of us, during our day, performs a series of automatic and repetitive actions: driving, using the GPS on our smartphone, carrying out online banking transactions, paying with a credit card or through a digital wallet, and – why not – spending some time on social media and watching television. Huge amounts of data that transit every day, more or less consciously, from us to the outside world.
Most of these data transit through satellites placed in various Earth orbits. But what would happen if they suddenly stopped working? Without wanting to be alarmist, we can say that it would make the world as we know it cease to exist: we would no longer be able to use a phone except as a hammer. In addition to accidental damage (solar winds, space debris, meteorite swarms), today the main problem is related to security, to be declined both as cyber security (which acts on ongoing attacks) and cyber safety (which prevents the causes, implementing precautions and countermeasures). Not only that: let’s take the International Space Station as an example, a complex system of modules that represents the most advanced human outpost outside the Earth’s surface, a primacy that will be passed on to the lunar station planned by the Artemis Accords. It is composed of systems and subsystems related to life support, airlock pressurization, solar panel deployment, docking systems, collision tracking, and communications.
In a context like the one just described, the use of Blockchain could constitute the greatest innovation in data security and prevention against cyber attacks capable of striking hard at strategic, civil, and military infrastructures and assets, all the more so if we consider that the mixed formula between the two sectors (called dual-use) is the most used in the New Space Economy, in order to spread the (still high) economic burden of the various missions, a real barrier to entry into the sector. Not only that: in a very distant hypothesis, by equipping entire satellite constellations with Blockchain systems (one example being SpaceX’s StarLink), it would be possible not only to manage them safely but also to have a completely data-driven satellite ecosystem, at the level of Earth/Space exchanges, among the satellites in orbit and between Earth and space outposts on the Moon and Mars. The space sector, also thanks to the significant private investments, is estimated by Morgan Stanley to grow from USD 350 billion in 2019 to over a trillion by 2040. Being able to control Space through hacker attacks would mean controlling the whole world: that’s why the Ultimate High Ground is talked about in reference to the so-called fourth environment, namely the space one.
Furthermore, the OECD’s 2019 report on the space sector shows some of the possible totally satellite-based developments already by 2030: assisted driving, navigation with augmented reality and automated assistance; traffic management and optimization through data-driven models; extraction of resources from the ground with high precision detection; health tracking for epidemic management, such as Covid-19; optimization of agriculture through satellite coordination to manage deforestation, fertilizers, and pesticide detection; verification from orbit of construction plans in cities and prediction of excavation sites; prevention and management of environmental and anthropogenic disasters, by verifying compliance with production and waste storage requirements by various industries, discouraging deliberate dumping and intervening promptly where present.
Furthermore, the OECD’s 2019 report on the space sector highlights some of the possible completely satellite-based developments by 2030, such as automated driving assistance, augmented reality navigation, and data-driven traffic management and optimization. Other developments include the precise detection of ground resources, satellite-based tracking of epidemics such as COVID-19, agricultural optimization through satellite coordination to manage deforestation, fertilizers, and pesticide detection, orbit-based monitoring of urban construction plans and excavation site predictions, and prevention and management of environmental and anthropogenic disasters by verifying industry compliance with production and waste storage requirements, discouraging illegal dumping and intervening promptly where necessary.
However, considering the significant achievements of the past 18 months, such as Virgin Galactic’s suborbital flights (Sir Richard Branson), SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy reusable rocket (Elon Musk), and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, the sector may grow much more than anticipated. In this context, increasing the security of data collected and transmitted through the use of Blockchain would indirectly provide greater solidity to intrinsically high-risk projects, potentially expanding the audience of investors or supporters while also providing an undoubtedly public service.
1 Investment Implications Report of the final frontier, Morgan Stanley, 28 July 2020.
2 Fourth Environment after the skies, the seas and the mainland, from Gabriella Catalano Sgrosso, International Space Law, LoGisma, Florence, 2011, page 18.
3 Benjamin S. Lambeth, Mastering the Ultimate High Ground: Next Steps in the Military Uses of Space, National Book Network, 2003.
4 OECD Report, The Space Economy in figures, 2019, pages 86-87. 19% 11% 17% 5% 9% 39% Space Economy forecasted in 2040 Ground equipment 196 billion USD Consumer TV 117 billion USD Governments 181 billion USD other 52 billion USD consumer broadband 52 billion USD internet 412 billion USD
Bibliography and sources
Catalano Sgrosso, International Space Law, LoGisma, Florence, 2011.
Lambeth Benjamin S., Mastering the Ultimate High Ground: Next Steps in the Military Uses of Space, National Book Network, 2003.
Investment Implications Report of the final frontier, Morgan Stanley Research, 28 July 2020, Thomson Reuters. https://www.morganstanley.com/Themes/global-space-economy
OECD Report, The Space Economy in figures, 2019 https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/c5996201-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/c5996201-en&_csp_=ffe5a6bbc1382ae4f0ead9dd2da73ff4&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=book
Market and Data
_old_Become an author
Wallet
