The MAPP lunar rover from Space Outpost will launch into space as a payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in November of this year.
To reclaim a bitcoin bounty left on the Moon, one corporation is urging all crypto-pirates to go more than 200,000 kilometres to the lunar surface. Later this year, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the advertised 62 bitcoin, which have an estimated value of $1.5 million, into space, but they will remain stuck on the lunar south pole. It will remain there for 14 days—one lunar day—waiting for any daring crypto dude to show up and take the reward. Thank goodness the crypto-obsessed are accustomed to holding their breath.
The Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform, also known as MAPP Moon Rover, was created by Lunar Outpost. LunarCrush, a website that provides spot information on the cryptocurrency market, revealed Monday that it was engraving the passcode to a cryptocurrency wallet on MAPP Lunar Rover.
The “first debuted commercial lunar resource prospector” is how this rover is billed. The first 4G communications system in orbit will be built as part of the $14.1 million Tipping Point mission, which Nokia was offered in 2020. Later this year, the Nova-C lander from Intuitive Machines is expected to release the rover near the lunar south pole. LunarCrush will take part in the second of two scheduled IM-1 and IM-2 landings of the Nova-C spacecraft in 2023.
The IM-2 mission’s primary objective is to evaluate how effectively wireless data connections function on the Moon’s south pole, except exposing encryption to any stray aliens. The rover will stay abandoned after its mission is finished for anyone discovers it after that. Before NASA launches its own rover to the Moon’s South Pole early next year, this is.
The passcode, according to LunarCrush, will connect to a wallet containing 62 bitcoin, which as of Monday afternoon were worth approximately $1.67 million. Bitcoin’s price changes significantly from week to week, so by the time the Falcon 9 lifts off in June, its value may have increased or decreased significantly. Who knows how much people will be prepared to pay for a single bitcoin by the time cryptocurrency guys are able to plant their own flag on the surface of the moon, which may be many, many more years away.
The name “Nakamoto 1” is taken from the alleged alias of the guy who invented bitcoin back in 2008. Even then, LunarCrush doesn’t exactly have that money on hand. The business claimed that in order to pay for the bounty, it is selling an NFT collection and soliciting donations.
Only 25% of the proceeds from the sales of non-fungible tokens will be used to pay the bitcoin bounty, while the remaining 25% will be used to support “bitcoin core development and STEM education-related causes.” The remaining 50% will go to the “partners who have been creating this initiative,” according to a confirmation from Gizmodo and Lunar Outpost. Each of the 24,000 NFTs will have a $250 starting price when they go on sale on Tuesday.
The MAPP rover will have a little piece of metal with the secret key carved into it that must be unbolted in order to be read. The engraving should be quite simple to see given that the rover is just the size of a microwave. Well, removing the bolts holding it to the rover is an entirely different challenge.
For their planned lunar lander, Lunar Outpost has advertised sponsorship and marketing options as well as actual payload space. In order to sell non-fungible tokens on its alleged “tokenized payload space,” it is collaborating with Copernic Space, which bills itself as a “web3 marketplace for space assets and investments.” In order to “commoditize a slice of space,” these “space assets” are described as tradable NFTs.
The crypto incentive, according to LunarCrush CEO Joe Vezzani, was intended to create a “unachievable goal” that would drive additional space innovation. Forrest Meyen, a co-founder of Lunar Outpost, concurred that this marketing strategy “incentivizes exploration” and unleashes “the greatest of human inventiveness.”
In order to reach the Moon and divide the spoils of the treasure chest, Vezzani said his companies envision “classrooms, groups, businesses, and even DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) coming together. It resembles the golden ticket from Willy Wonka. According to Vezzani, it won’t be long until someone figure out how to create profitable commercial lunar tours.
Why is crypto needed in space?
From sports arenas to midtown New York City advertising space, cryptocurrency companies have attempted to take over every square inch of actual real estate. The crypto-obsessed now believe that spreading Scrooge McDuck-level greed will best motivate people to travel back to the moon.
Crypto has attempted to dump bitcoin on the Moon before. A similar plan was attempted by the long-suffering cryptocurrency trading company BitMEX in 2021. A wallet containing one bitcoin was advertised by BitMEX as being installed on Astrobotic’s delayed Peregrine lunar lander launch anticipated for later this year. When we contacted Astrobotic to inquire about whether that cargo would stay on the Peregrine, we did not immediately receive a response. These initiatives represent the worst excesses of space commercialization, if anything. It’s impossible to predict what the price of bitcoin will be in a few years, let alone how long it may be before common people have a chance to travel to the Moon.
Is this simply another another significant crypto promotion? No doubt. For years, the slogan “to the Moon” has been used as an internal joke in the cryptocurrency industry to persuade more people of the impending crypto boom cycle. Yet when you take into account the costs of actually travelling into space, let alone going to the Moon, the idea of encouraging innovation through a cryptocurrency incentive looks all the more absurd. There are several businesses offering space tourism, but the majority of them promote flights to low-Earth orbit or high altitudes, none of which are close to the Moon. And the price isn’t even taken into account. According to reports, one Blue Origin New Shepard ticket was sold for $28 million back in 2021.
Sure, costs will decrease over time, but given how long it took to get us to the point where we could shuttle non-humans into low Earth orbit and how it has so far only been promoted as a tour option for the ultra-rich, how long will we have to wait before one of these fictitious “classrooms” or “groups” can afford a ticket to the lunar surface? With a goal of returning humans to the moon by 2024, NASA had predicted that the Artemis mission would cost between $20 and $30 billion.
The Artemis 3 launch, which will bring a crew to the south pole zone, is now scheduled for 2025 by NASA. If any of them are truly interested in cryptocurrencies, these astronauts might be the first to find the MAPP rover. They’re most likely to land far from MAPP in actuality.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered his well-known speech about the country’s moon landing efforts. Thus, imagine that instead of his well-known speech about civic responsibility and collective optimism, he had instead said: We chose to go to the Moon in this decade and accomplish the other things, not because they are simple, but because we can dive into that sweet, sweet crypto.
