Copernic Space in Finextra: Democratising space and digitising endangered species

"Space is the only economy that is limitless," Grant Blaisdell, creator and co-founder of Copernic Space, explained to Finextra. "It does not have hundreds of years of incumbent regulation built around it. As such, it is an opportune area within which to build a new economic system, based on blockchain."

Democratizing Space Access

In the wake of negative reactions on social media to the likes of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson travelling to space, forward-thinking companies like Copernic Space are working to democratise it, in the hope that, eventually, charitable organisations and members of the public can invest in it.

Space is sometimes seen as an intimidating frontier, but it shouldn't be. We do not want the public to be financially and economically excluded from space, and the benefits of access to space assets, such as satellite imagery.

Blockchain Innovation in Space

So, what kind of benefits can be derived from satellite data? In June, Blaisdell's organisation made headlines when it partnered with satellite-as-a-service and mission-as-a-service platform, Exodus Orbitals, to map rhino habitats and battle poaching activities across Africa. Once again, non-fungible tokens made this project possible; providing access to satellite data and images of the most concerning areas of land.

Funding Conservation Efforts

Copernic Space's first public commercial case, however – which was due in a couple of months – was the first-ever tokenised public sale of payload space. "It's on a rover that's going to the moon," said Blaisdell. "Purchased payload space and associated terms of use and rights will be provided to buyers as an NFT within the Copernic Space application," he added.

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