The Links Between Blockchain and SpaceTech
With 2021 nearing its end, there have already been several successful applications of blockchain technology in the SpaceTech industry. While the number of SpaceTech companies with applied blockchain technology and the Blockchain companies with space-focused programs is not too large as of 2021, there are numerous opportunities to increase. As such, this integration of sectors should not be overlooked by investors.
SpaceTech presents investors with astronomical opportunities for gains at moderate risk levels. It is a frontier industry with rapid growth and development rate. SpaceTech market capitalization is expected to reach $10T by 2030. Blockchain represents a direction for optimization and improvement in terms of logistical and data structures. Becoming a hot topic in the second decade of the twenty-first century, it has a lot of potential opportunities for SpaceTech companies to apply, increasing their overall efficiency.
The key factors that drive the growth of the global blockchain distributed ledger market trends include rise in adoption of distributed ledger among various large & medium-sized enterprises to surge their revenue opportunity and increase in awareness toward blockchain distributed ledger applications among multiple industries drive the growth of the global blockchain distributed ledger market growth. In addition, the low risk of fraudulent data activities and lower cost of blockchain distributed ledger applications propel the development of the market. However, a lack of awareness of cryptocurrency among developing nations is expected to hamper market growth. On the contrary, integrating the Internet of Things (IoT) in blockchain distributed ledgers is projected to have a definite impact on the blockchain distributed ledger market development.
The SpaceTech Industry has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years, so investment growth should not be surprising. Beyond that, the solid media and popular-culture presence of flamboyant billionaires like Elon Musk have attracted investors and the public interest. Both of these factors have sparked an interest in expanding the sector’s horizons. Since the 2010s, this has led to the explosive growth of both the industry (the number of companies roughly doubled during that decade) and its subsectors (more and more activities became involved with the SpaceTech sector).
As blockchain moves into outer space, its ability to tokenize spacecraft and payloads emerges as a key to its success, which could help in massive upcoming space projects such as the international, collaborative Gateway space station NASA wants to build in lunar orbit. With blockchain, it is possible to commercialize space exploration faster and more efficiently. Tokenizing a spacecraft would allow different entities to construct various components of the spacecraft, giving institutions like NASA and ESA the ability to procure things efficiently, with much more transparency and traceability.
Because of the immutable nature of the blockchain, where every transaction is recorded transparently, tokenized assets are immutable, verifiable, and always accessible to all interested parties. The most crucial application of asset tokenization is that there are no territorial barriers to investing in assets. Hence, any interested entity from anywhere in the world can invest in an asset without complicated procedures, with high-security models and the speed of transfer offered by the blockchain network, due to the absence of middlemen. Any asset can be tokenized into the blockchain network, including venture capital funds, materials, hardware, software, etc.
As such, both of these innovative industries can be considered as the top-performers of the economy in general. The markets provide many attractive opportunities to the investors, both new and established, minor and significant. While the SpaceTech market provides more moderate levels of risk, the Blockchain market, in general, is far more volatile and diversified. Different applications of blockchain technology provide different levels of risk and rewards. Overall, disregarding the application, all of them equate to an approximately similar average to the SpaceTech sector. Hence with the dangers being moderate and the rewards being significant, the fusion of two sectors can be considered attractive to investors.
With both Blockchain and SpaceTech industries showing impressive growth potential, it can be expected that cooperation between the two sectors will bring in the fusion with astronomical growth projections.
Regulatory challenges, uncertainty with legal frameworks, and the prevalence of scams in bitcoin and ICO have slowed down blockchain technology adoption rates. There is a country-dependent regulatory framework for ICOs, and as such, it is one of the biggest hurdles. Concerning tokenization, the lack of clarity of the legal rights of a token holder discourages companies from tokenizing their assets. However, although adoption has been slow, the potential of blockchain technology is increasingly being investigated in the space sector, particularly in supply chain management. ICOs and asset tokenization present some interesting challenges and opportunities for the space industry, particularly its feasibilities and capabilities. Thus, the private sector and space agencies need to conduct feasibility studies to identify areas where blockchain adoption could help enhance the space ecosystem.
Despite the extreme advancement of both spheres of blockchain and space, due to the nature of the first sphere, no establishment has yet been found to take over the authority to regulate the intersection of these two spheres.
As blockchain technologies become more popular, bringing on its’ benefits, there arise multiple challenges to overcome for the significant increase of data usage efficiency and overall quality of infrastructure. The most common challenges when talking about blockchain stem from the methodological and legal standpoint. With the industry itself being somewhat new and still in the process of self-defining, there is still a lack of fully-developed legislative and scientific backing towards defining the sector. At the same time, it’s apparent that both governmental and private entities are working towards rectifying these issues.
For more information about Blockchain applications in SpaceTech read our recently released Blockchain in SpaceTech Q4/2021 Joint Case Study available via the link: https://www.spacetech.global/blockchain-in-spacetech
