SpaceX founder Elon Musk shows the audience after he was recognized by US President Donald Trump in NASA’s vehicle assembly building after successfully launching a Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon spacecraft from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center
Paul Hennessy | SOPA pictures | Getty Images
Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch the “DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon” in the first quarter of 2022, with the company accepting the meme-inspired cryptocurrency as full payment for the lunar payload.
Geometric Energy Corporation announced the Dogecoin-funded mission on Sunday, which SpaceX’s communications team confirmed in an email to reporters. The financial worth of the mission has not been disclosed.
DOGE-1 will fly a 40-kilogram cube satellite as a payload on a Falcon 9 rocket. Geometric Energy Corporation states that the payload will “receive lunar sensors from sensors and cameras on board with integrated communication and computing systems.”
Tom Ochinero, Vice President Commercial Sales at SpaceX, said in a statement that DOGE-1 “will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond orbit and lay the foundation for interplanetary trade.”
“We’re excited to bring DOGE-1 to the moon!” Said Ochinero.
A Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Transporter 1 mission in January 2021.
SpaceX
Musk previously announced the company’s plans, albeit in an April Fool’s tweet.
“SpaceX is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon,” wrote Musk.
The DOGE-1 mission comes after Musk, the self-proclaimed “Dogefather”, made his debut as the host of “Saturday Night Live”. The price of Dogecoin fell during its appearance and fell below 50 cents despite its references to the cryptocurrency.
For SpaceX, the announcement also comes on the day the company set a new record for its Falcon 9 rocket series. After launching another series of Starlink satellites into orbit, SpaceX landed the Falcon 9 rocket booster for the tenth time – a benchmark Musk previously described as key to the company’s progress in reusing its rockets.
“It’s designed for 10 or more flights with no renovation between each flight,” Musk told reporters in May 2018.
“We believe that [Falcon 9] Boosters can be deployed on the order of at least 100 flights before they retire. Maybe more. “
A Falcon 9 rocket amplifier lands after the start of the Sentinel 6 mission.
SpaceX
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