Cryptonauts talk about going to the moon, but ConsenSys points a little higher.
Last Wednesday, the New York-based blockchain company acquired Planetary Resources, a space resource and an exploration venture in an asset purchase transaction. Other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Planetary Resources CEO Chris Lewicki and General Counsel Brian Israel will join ConsenSys going forward. The Washington-based company conducts space exploration missions to look for resources on asteroids and other space systems that could be useful to humans. These include water, minerals and precious metals, and the company claims that by exploiting these factors we could reduce the cost of space travel by 95%. In January, the company launched a spacecraft designed to detect water resources in space and to test commercial hardware that could significantly reduce the cost of deep space missions.
The acquiring company will take over the structures of Planetary Resources in Redmond, in the state of Washington.
The founder of ConsenSys and co-founder of Ethereum (ETH), Joe Lubin, said that the acquisition brings potential space and planetary applications to the Ethereum network, as well as to the blockchain companies in the portfolio in which ConsenSys is invested:
Bringing the capabilities of deep space into the ConsenSys ecosystem reflects our belief in the potential of Ethereum to help humanity create new systems of social rules through automatic trust and guaranteed execution.
Lubin added that his company believes in "Democratizing and decentralizing space efforts" to unlock human potential. The acquisition could pave the way for fans to financially support space missions by donating cryptocurrencies via blockchain (such as the Ethereum network), although this possibility with Planetary Resources is at this point speculation.
Planetary Resources CEO Chris Lewicki offers extensive spatial technical experience that could be exploited by ConsenSys' portfolio of technology initiatives. He worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as director of Mars rovers and Phoenix Mars lander.
The general councilor of planetary resources Brian Israel could help solve regulatory problems in various jurisdictions. He previously served in the United States Department of Legal Counsel's Office and served as a United States Representative at the United Nations Space Law Agency.
According to planetary resources, there are 16,000 near-Earth asteroids whose natural resources can sustain life in space and this creates a new paradigm for space travel and sustainability. That is, it may be possible to support missions in deep space without necessarily implementing costly supply missions from Earth for essential goods such as water and fuel. They say that the use of these resources could reduce the cost of space exploration by 95%.
The company's scientists also claim that the asteroids near the Earth are more accessible than the moon. The lunar distance is about 249,000 miles. According to the company, there are two billion tons of water incorporated into these asteroids, which can support humans, as well as being used to push spacecraft for further travel or to return home.
"Over the course of nearly a decade, Planetary Resources has simultaneously paved the way for technology, business, law and politics, and has brought the promise of space resources irreversibly closer to the reach of humanity" Lewicki said in a statement on October 31st.
With imagination and daring action, one can hardly aim high enough.
The author holds digital assets but none mentioned in this article.
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