by Lifestyle brand SpaceOne Industries plans to sell experimental non-fungible token (NFT) space patches minted on the International Space Station (ISS).
Starting April 27, a limited edition of 7,000 NFT digital mission patches will be minted through Artemis Space Network, a division of Artemis Music Entertainment dedicated to connecting artists, producers, creators and communities to space exploration. You can buy NFTs on the SpaceOne website.
SpaceOne founder Nick Graham, who says his space experience includes marketing Virgin Galactic’s space tourism flights in 2006, started this new venture to get more people involved in space exploration, especially those who are interested in the virtual world. known as the metaverse.
“In my opinion, though, we’re all astronauts,” Graham told Space.com. “We’re on a planet right now at 67,000 miles per hour [108,000 kph].”
The NFT project is backed by Ethereum, a major blockchain. SpaceOne will mint the NFT space patches on the ISS, using computational space that Artemis Space Network has brokered through commercial space services company Nanoracks.
Some of the proceeds will benefit the Planetary Society, a non-profit organization that advocates further space exploration. The partnership continues a years-long collaboration between Graham and Planetary Society CEO (and former TV “Science Guy”) Bill Nye on various projects.
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“We are delighted to be brought into this because, as a non-profit space exploration organization, we are expected to be forward-looking and technology-oriented in what we do in all things,” Richard Chute, director of development at Planetary Society, told Space.com. “That includes fundraising.”
Chute said the society has spent the past 18 months learning about NFTs and cryptocurrencies to keep up with the donation landscape. NFTs are units of data, stored on a digital ledger called a blockchain, that represent unique assets. The sale of NFTs can be done through minting, which requires publishing a token on the blockchain to allow the purchase.
To do this, sellers require access to a cryptocurrency blockchain as well as an NFT marketplace. The risk of buying an NFT, however, is that it operates independently of traditional financial systems and therefore its value is less predictable.
SpaceOne calls this the debut launch of digital items MetaMission 1, which it says is the first in a large set of events aimed at space fans. Future events, the company promises, will highlight major milestones in space science and exploration, including the launch of NASA’s Artemis 1 mission and the first operational images from the James Webb Space Telescope, both of which are scheduled to take place in late 2022.
The events will be in person and in a metaverse called Decentraland, although few details are available yet. Decentraland allows people (through avatars) to buy blockchain-backed virtual land and wear special clothing while doing so. The packages on sale from SpaceOne will include exclusive assets from Decentraland, said Graham, a designer who founded the underwear brand Joe Boxer.
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Two MetaMission 1 packages will be on sale through SpaceOne, according to the company. The Pilot package, worth 0.1 Ethereum (approximately $305 at the moment), includes some assets. In addition to the space-minted Pilot mission patch, users can sport a “Spacewalker sneaker” polygon for Decentraland, a commemorative certificate, and a token for future events held by SpaceOne.
Users willing to pay 0.5 Ethereum (approximately $1515 USD) will not only receive all the assets of the Pilot pack, but also a Commander pack. The Commander asset set includes a Decentraland “Moon” jacket and a gold boarding pass, including a token for pages, events, and a Shopify store link.
If you open the Shopify link, Graham said, it will show you a real-life jacket, made in black with the NASA meatball logo. “It has a QR code that activates augmented reality, so you can walk in space with your jacket on,” Graham explained.
SpaceOne is not Graham’s first space venture. For example, he got involved with Virgin Galactic in 2006, selling tickets to suborbital space “15 years early” while joking about the situation (given the company’s first fully manned spaceflight took place in July 2021).
And in 2014, Graham launched his eponymous menswear line, which he says includes Planetary Society’s iconic bow ties for Nye. Nye and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin modeled the Nick Graham menswear collection in a virtual Martian landscape during New York Fashion Week in 2017.
“They just have this really authentic connection,” Chute said of the Nye-Graham dynamic. Chute added that the Plantary Society is interested in participating in SpaceOne’s upcoming events, either virtual or physical.
Chute said the advantage of being present in a digital environment is that more young people will be there. This gives society a chance to increase its support base, which currently includes many older people who lived through the transformative and awe-inspiring Apollo era.
This isn’t the first time the Planetary Society has used technology to generate interest in space; the nonprofit has a significant population of members in Seattle (Microsoft’s home region) and also many supporters in the Bay Area who have a background in technology.
Even better, NFT donations will be unrestricted, allowing society to put the money into important basic functions like paying for electricity. Chute said this situation will allow society to use more resources to further its core mandate, “which is to empower the citizens of the world to advance science and space exploration.”
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
