Topic: Bitcoin Nodes in Space? - page 2. (Read 427 times)

it is just a dream. nothing good can go out of it. why? because we do not have spaceship which could deliver server to the moon or mars and even if we had one, then there will be another problem, time delay of a signal. so the time delay between moon and earth is about 2.5 sec which is acceptable, but between mars and earth it comes wide range from 3 min to 22 min..
this could cause bad blocks, fork, sync problem with blockchain and etc..
so you see now why bitcoin in space not really good idea with current technical level development of humanity  

That's a good thought, although like what was mentioned already, the Blockstream satellite is already operational. Also, one does not simply send out a satellite into space without having a special permission as it might interfere with aviation in general, and could be dangerous if left unattended. For deeper launches, it will require tons of money, careful planning and again, coordination with aviation authorities as this might hinder explorations and missions on space. Fascinating as it may all seem but it's tedious to the one who's gonna launch a satellite up there which will serve as a node.

I think it's too early to think about it, we need to solve the problems that exist now

Indeed this is a very promising development on the crypto-industry but I believe this technology is not applicable or not viable to most ordinary users at least not at the moment. This is simply because we have better alternatives of syncing the Bitcoin blockchain particularly the Internet and its ever growing infrastructure had already produced a widespread internet coverage around the world. Also, advances in cellular and wireless technology had helped enabled remote areas to have internet connectivity, so I think it is redundant as of now.

Moreover, I also think ordinary people or even merchants will find it less interesting to use because I understand they will eventually have purchase satellite dish receivers to use the system and this might be costly and may prove harder to operate and maintain. However, if we are considering the possibility of any catastrophic event that may happen, then I guess there is no sense in keeping the nodes alive if humanity will ever cease to exists.

I believe the solution for latency issues would be for NASA or some private organization to develop their own Blockchain based technology that are not linked to Bitcoin. In doing this, they do not have to synchronize with transactions that are done on the Bitcoin Blockchain.

So you might find a Mars coin running on their own Blockchain and then people will have trading pairs with other coins, where they sell these tokens for bitcoins and visa versa. 

If something like a catastrophic event will happen to our planet, then building Bitcoin nodes in the space won't become our priority anymore rather we need to fix the economy and the life that still exists on our planet. If you are familiar with the show "Doomsday Prepare" you know what I mean. as you can see in all of the episode no one has been saving bitcoin. that won't matter anymore, I guess. the only thing that matters is how you will survive in that kind of situation and how can you protect your families.

This was the very question that popped in my mind when OP posted about catastrophic events. I honestly believe that if such ane event ecer happened, then basically all of humanity would cease to exist, rendering the usage of nodes in space useless. Of course, if space travel could be developed before such a thing happened, then things would take a different turn. But by then, I'd doubt that space nodes would be a particular problem or even the solutionby then might have exceeded what space nodes could do so there was no need for it.

what kind of catastrophic event are we talking about here that could lead to annihilation of all nodes on earth worldwide that we need a space node?!! and what would we need that if the human race is extinct, or is it just extinction of computers on earth

It's a viable option to expand availability of blockchain far from what we have today. However, I don't think it's a good decision for now since even if you covered all places on our world, not all people have access to required devices. Also, sending satellited would be also expensive since delivering cargos to space require some hefty amounts of money. I thinj it's better to improve technology here on land first then we can go to space.

I'm aware of this. Thank you. Hopefully, the technology will improve to reach out to areas far beyond reach in space. After all, satellites have a limited distance in which they can transmit signals. It could take lightyears for the satellite to transmit the Blockchain data across several planets in the galaxy. But we'll get there eventually. The more nodes there are supporting the Bitcoin blockchain, the better as there will be a greater degree of redundancy. And having nodes only on Earth, may not be the ideal approach for reliability in my own opinion.



Interesting thought. Our current technology is limited which prevents us from going far beyond reach in space. But within a couple of years from now (if not decades), everything will be much more sophisticated than what it is right now. In the meantime, it's best to establish Bitcoin nodes on the moon as it's close to Earth. We already have the "Blockstream Satellite" which transmits Blockchain data to various regions of the world. But an interplanetary solution would be better in the future. Placing a node on each planet of our solar system, would add more redundancy to the Bitcoin blockchain. Nodes would be machine-controlled instead of human-operated.

Nonetheless, I believe that Bitcoin could still survive a major catastrophic event on Earth if the number of geographically-distributed nodes become greater over time. For a short period, the Bitcoin blockchain will become weaker than ever before. But, it could recover to its former glory as nodes start to come back online again. The real issue would be Quantum Computing attacks, but that's another subject.

That is a nice idea yet very unrealistic as of this time. The reason is that inside earth we still lack technological access especially on remote areas including the third world countries. If  we cannot even install electricity and internet connection on such remote ares within the earth how much more about the installation of bitcoin nodes in space. Bitcoin has many trials that need to overcome, instead of focusing on dreamy ideas let us focus first on the mainstreaming of bitcoin into the society.

Anything is possible, but your question will pose challenges on synchronization. You know, time varies from Earth to Mars and other places in the solar system.
We are progressing well as distances have become shorter and travel farther away so when humans have managed to find networking with the planet. It is possible to send transactions.
Note that even when a global problem occurs, cryptocurrencies can still be used. Unlike banking systems that are connected to central platforms, "out of service means downtime."

With current technology, the main problem would be the latency. To the moon its measured in seconds (not milliseconds), to Mars in minutes, half an hour to an hour. Syncing the blockchain on a solar system wide level would be very difficult, not impossible, but tricky. You could easily have two blockchains running in parallel on Mars and Earth at the same time for long enough periods to do harm. This is definitely something that was not in Satoshi's mind.

One promising future technology that could fix this, is communications based in the properties of quantum entanglement. So yes, not all "quantum" stuff is evil, quite the opposite in fact.

The reasoning about a catastrophic event is unnecessary, if such thing occurs there would be far more pressing issues than keeping the Bitcoin network alive. No, but if in a few centuries later humanity starts populating the system, it becomes important. For interstellar distances you can pretty much forget it, you would be fighting against time itself... Unidirectional communication could be theoretically possible thought.

I can imagine a future where some colonies are setup both in space, such as artificial places at lagrange points, and in some suitable places like Jupiter moons, Mars, etc. As i said earlier, without quantum entanglement communications take minutes to hours to reach points. Even communication from earth to earth using satellites is laggy due to the distance it takes to reach orbit and back, or if needs to be relayed further. This is a physical issue, nothing can be done to lower the latency (short of quantum entanglement), bandwidth/bitrates can be improved, but not latency the speed of light (assumed constant) is in the way...

Did you know? Light from the Sun takes 8 minutes to reach Earth? Yes light, just a different wavelength... But the Sun is in the center, what you do when Earth is opposite to Mars? You already have those 8 minutes plus the longer distance towards Mars... And when the astrophysics start measuring in LightYears, better get ready because that's actual Earth years that light takes from point a to point b... Before taking in consideration time relativity.

Don't worry, if we don't go extinct, our descendants will have fun figuring clever ways to overcome this. Most fiction and even some science-fiction tends to ignore this. Star Trek instant bidirectional communications with Earth? They better have full dominance of quantum entanglement, else...

There's already the Blockstream Satellite, which perpetually broadcasts the blockchain to most of the world from space. It's not Mars or Venus but it's getting there, and it helps reduce the network's dependency on internet access.

As of now, Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency with the most nodes available worldwide. It's been doing well with only 10 years since its inception. However, I believe that in order for Bitcoin to reach true censorship-resistance and reliability, it needs to expand in areas far beyond reach. It would be nice to have Bitcoin nodes distributed across space in order to be prepared for any catastrophic event on Earth. Imagine having Bitcoin nodes on the Moon, as well as, planets like Mars and Venus. This would allow Bitcoin to stand the test of time for generations.

However, it's yet to be proven if this solution is viable after all. What are your thoughts?