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- Elon Musk's SpaceX mission DOGE-1, which was fully funded by dogecoin, is still set to launch by early next year.
- Two blockchain companies will help create a cubesat that will be deployed by SpaceX FalconX, CoinTelegraph reported Wednesday.
- The report said the cubesat will provide a new use case for cryptocurrencies and will reach the moon.
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Elon Musk's company SpaceX has partnered up with two blockchain companies to launch its dogecoin-funded mission to the moon by early next year, according to a media report on Wednesday.
Unizen, a smart exchange ecosystem and ZenX, a decentralized finance incubator, will build the DOGE-1 cubesat – a miniature satellite that obtains information from space using cameras, sensors and mirrors – that will be launched into a lunar orbit, according to a report by CoinTelegraph.
The cubesat will be deployed thanks to a launch agreement with Musk's SpaceX FalconX and, thanks to the underpinning of blockchain technology, will provide a new use-case for cryptocurrencies, the report said.
This will be the first time memecoin dogecoin has funded a space mission. Around 1,600 cubesats have been launched already, but DOGE-1 would be the first to travel as far as 250,000 miles, CoinTelegraph said. The mission is on track but there are, as yet, no firm dates or deadlines, the report said.
Space X, Unizen and DeFi incubator ZenX and manufacturer Geometric Energy Corp were not immediately available to comment when contacted by Insider.
"DOGE-1 could be the first cubesat in history to reach the moon, marking a significant achievement for global spaceflight," the companies told CoinTelegraph.
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have taken the world by storm with people using both to store medical information, mortgage agreements, process bond payments and more. Dogecoin has soared by more than 10,000% over the last 12 months, according to CoinGecko.
Musk and dogecoin have had a special relationship over the year, as the SpaceX and Tesla CEO's tweets have often served to push up the coin's value. He recently said in a recent tweet that he owned some dogecoin, along with bitcoin and ether.
Musk first announced that the dogecoin mission would be happening in 2022 in May in a separate tweet.
Geometric Energy Corp, an intellectual property, manufacturing and logistics firm, had said in a press release in May that it had paid Elon Musk's space company in dogecoin to fund the mission.
"This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce," SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero said in a statement at the time.