- SERA, a private space firm, is introducing an NFT collection on Layer 2, Base of Coinbase that gives purchasers the opportunity to win a spot on a future Blue Origin flight.
- The startup’s astronaut selection method, which will choose six individuals from around the world to take part in the trip, has also incorporated onchain voting.
For their Space Summer NFT drop, the firm Space Exploration & Research Agency (SERA) is utilizing Coinbase’s Base network to give customers the opportunity to reserve a spot on an upcoming Blue Origin voyage to low Earth orbit aboard a New Shepard rocket.
SERA co-founder and former rocket engineer Sam Hutchison explained that the goal is to provide space access to everyone.
The remaining five slots will be set aside for astronauts from countries like Nigeria, India, and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) who have either never sent a person into space or have sent relatively few. In that selection process, token holders will also have the opportunity to take part.
Additionally, voting will happen onchain. Hutchison stated that since this is a historic occasion, we must ensure that the voting procedure is impartial and open by utilizing a combination of KYC and blockchain-based voting.
Users will receive a mission badge in the form of an NFT upon joining the SERA program, specifically designed to track their voting behavior during the astronaut selection process. According to Hutchison, the voting information will be openly accessible to the community, demonstrating to them that there are no fingers on the scale.
He went on, “Wherever we believe there is a very strong use case, we should use the blockchain to help broaden access to space exploration and research or to create the kind of transparency that space exploration may have historically lacked.”
Out of the approximately 660 individuals who have visited space, the majority of them come from only three nations: China, Russia, and the United States. By securing Victor Hespanha, a 28-year-old civil engineer from Minas Gerais, Brazil, a seat on a Blue Origin rocket in 2022—also through a token voting process—SERA has already contributed to tipping the scales.
According to Joshua Skurla, co-founder of SERA, space is inherently a decentralized idea. We examined the formula and concluded that, using the Web3 tenets, it would be possible to bring together a sizable group of space enthusiasts—from the deep tech community to sci-fi aficionados—and use stakeholdership to bring them all together.
Skurla mentioned the company is in active talks with several Web3 founders who are interested in space exploration, including Jed McCaleb, the founder of Stellar, who is building a private space station through a new startup called Vast. In addition, the company is connected to cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase, which seems to be populated by space enthusiasts.
According to a statement from Jesse Pollak, the man behind Base, SERA was developed to allow anyone to be involved in the future of space exploration.SERA is doing for space what we are doing to make the onchain global economy available to everyone.
I believe that the web3 and space groups share a great deal of cultural common ground. This vision of more socioeconomic independence drives the space business, especially on the tech side, according to Hutchison. We can definitely see that web3 has a very similar set of long-term objectives.
Disclaimer : This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
