Project Cosmos on Cardano
Launching JPEGs into Space for Science
Close on the heels of the first physical asset NFTs sent to space, the next project in the series is enabling members of the Cardano community to send their very own NFTs to space! Holders of existing Cardano NFTs (CNFTs) will be able to have their NFT artwork printed on a physical card, which will be sent 420 km (260 miles) into space for a ride on the International Space Station (ISS). These color printed, credit card-sized, physical cards will uniquely reference the original NFT artwork visually as well as in metadata stored on an embedded near-field communications (NFC) chip. Each card will be programmed with a URL pointing to the NFT. Just tap the card to your phone to view it on the blockchain! The original NFT will not be modified since a new NFT will be minted for the spaceflight and paired with the original via the new NFT’s metadata. Inclusion of the NFC technology is part of an experiment that will observe single-event upsets (SEUs) occurring in the NFC chip’s memory due to the space environment.
This experiment will launch in March 2023 on the SpaceX CRS-27 ISS resupply mission. Integrated in a Cargo Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket, Project Cosmos will blast off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida and will return from the ISS approximately 180 days later.
Crowdfunding Science
The recent explosion in popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has created a new avenue for creators and entrepreneurs to fund their work. Built on top of cryptocurrency blockchains such as Cardano and Ethereum, NFTs represent certificates of ownership of a physical or digital asset. These tokens can be bought, sold, and traded as a means to digitally transfer ownership of the represented asset. While NFTs have most commonly been used to represent digital artwork, they can be used for a myriad of other purposes, such as tickets to an event, ownership of a musical composition, or software licensing. This has presented an unconventional opportunity for scientific research: decentralized crowdfunding.
Rather than relying on funding from traditional sources (academia and research institutions), scientists can present research ideas to the general public and receive funding by selling tokens to cryptocurrency holders that want to support the work. In return, these tokens serve as proof of a person’s support. Additionally, these tokens can grant special rights to their owners, such as receiving free access to journal articles published about the research, exclusive tours of facilities, and souvenirs from an experiment., etc. Tokenizing patronage increases access to science and science literacy, enabling the public to push research forward, especially research in critical areas that are not commercially viable. in science provides an exciting way to get people interested in STEM and opens the doors to a radically different way to fund research.
Research Description and Objectives
The team seeks to gather data on the longevity of NFC tags when utilized in the low earth orbit (LEO) space environment. This experiment will observe single-event upsets (SEUs) occurring in the memory components in each NFC chip. Many space applications could utilize near field communications, especially within a space station environment, as long as a device’s embedded memory is not susceptible to frequent bit flips. Such bit flips would cause the device to transmit incorrect data. While radiation effects on flash memory have been thoroughly studied, little data exists on the effects of radiation on the RF circuits used in NFC tags. Further experiment details are available in the whitepaper that the Ascension Sciences team submitted to NASA in order to obtain approval for the payload to be sent to the ISS.
Building on Cardano
The first two physical asset NFT projects to travel to space and back, Ascension and Cosmos, will be released on the Cardano blockchain. Cardano’s technological advantages as well as its research focused ethos made it the logical choice for supporting these experiments.
The Cardano blockchain uses a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus model, which means minting and transacting NFT uses a minuscule amount of energy compared to Proof-of-Work (PoW) chains. It was important to the team that Project Cosmos build on an environmentally friendly system. Furthermore, on the Cardano blockchain, NFTs are treated as “native assets”, which means that the tokens exist independent of smart contracts. This distinction allows the tokens to be minted and distributed with minimal on-chain resources and subsequently low network fees. The 208 Project Cosmos tokens were recently re-minted (metadata update) for around $2.25 in total fees.
Cardano was also chosen due to the scientific rigor, transparency, and openness that has been used to develop the technology. More than 100 scientific papers defining the Cardano block chain structure have been peer-reviewed and published in prestigious academic publications.
Project Timeline
Fall 2021: Project idea
The Ascension Sciences team develops the idea in collaboration with the Buffy Bot Publishing team as a follow on to Project Ascension with more direct inclusion of the CNFT community!
November 26th, 2021: Mission Access Token (MAT) sale goes live
Token sale announcement article.
January 2022, Artwork Generated
All the artwork, with asset IDs, is completed by the BUFFY Bot team. The physical cards are printed.
March 2022: Purchased ride to space
Contract completed with mission integrator for Project Cosmos.
April 2022: Card Assembly and Test
The cards went through an intensive quality control and testing process. Each card was checked for printing defects and then the NFC chip was programmed with the corresponding information. Each card was verified by scanning the NFC chip with a different phone.
May 9th 2022: Cards packaged and delivered to the mission integrator
Project Cosmos Passenger Manifest:
SpaceBudz — 82
ZombieChains — 13
Knitties — 7
Buffy — 6
Unsig — 4
AdaMonsterz — 4
ClayNation — 4
AdaCards — 4
spacecoins — 4
GOAT Tribe — 4
CardanoBits — 3
Yummi — 3
Pavia — 3
CardanoKidz — 2
Berry — 2
Hosky — 2
StellarHood — 2
Roleggs — 2
Others — 57
TOTAL PASSENGERS — 208
August 2022: Cosmos Experiment Whitepaper
A whitepaper detailing the scientific experiment behind the Project Cosmos payload, studying the effects of the space environment on Near-Field Communications (NFC) devices, was published and submitted to NASA.
November 11th, 2022 Metadata Update
The Cosmos metadata was updated to include an “extendedMetadata” field. This field contains an ID for an asset that will be minted later with launch and return information. The policy ID for the Cosmos tokens closes this week so the launch data couldn’t be included in the original token’s metadata directly.
Links to the update minting transactions:
3f251295866d6cff4288363a3eac1bd96fe28f74ec146861d9868b1f5fe42051
4e9accec6f732e266e609b654a734b39f878ca36d7ca7c5e2af299f73d912f91
1c4d1b3e9cbade25ac5feed9b5920328ffce7ed2c7d269e681ee2b633dfd87b5
69ff21100a82901e751ad829c857d183b3ae93bf97a3ff1380d678c7859b495d
Rocket launch change
The Project Cosmos payload has been manifested for the commercial re-supply mission CRS SpX-27 and is schedule to launch on Tue Mar 14, 2023 at 8:30 PM EDT. Keep up to date on the flight status here.
March 14th, 2023: Successful Launch!
Finally! After over a year waiting, Project Cosmos successfully launched on board SpaceX CRS-27!
December 22nd, 2023: Return to Earth
After 283 days in space and over 4,500 orbits around the planet, the Cosmos payload returned to Earth aboard SpaceX CRS-29!
Payload Received from NASA
On January 27th, 2023, we received the Cosmos payload from NASA. We will conclude our experiment by testing each of the NFC cards to evaluate their suitability for operating in the space environment. We will then begin collecting addresses and sending out the cards to their respective owners.
More updates coming soon!
Project Cosmos was created by Ascension Sciences — a team of space engineers who proudly operate Viper Staking on Cardano — in collaboration with Buffy Bot Publishing.
