SpaceChain Receives Grant from
EUREKA GlobalStars-Singapore Call to Jointly Develop
Decentralised Satellite Infrastructure with Consortium
Partners
Dec. 10, 2020
EUREKA, in partnership with
Enterprise Singapore and Innovate UK, has awarded
GBP440,000 in funding together with access to research
and development facilities and resources to SpaceChain
UK Limited (SpaceChain) and consortium partners Addvalue
Innovation Pte Ltd ("Addvalue ") and Alba Orbital.
Awarded under the EUREKA Globalstars-Singapore Call, the
companies will jointly develop a decentralised satellite
infrastructure (DSI) that powers a blockchain payload at
its core to enable direct tasking of a satellite in
real-time.
The DSI innovation will be formed
by a mesh-network of heterogeneous spacecrafts that is
owned by multiple parties across jurisdictions operated
in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The DSI is set to democratise
access to the nascent space sector with lower barriers
to entry by individual companies. The innovation also
bridges the communication gap between technology and
data.
Once the DSI architecture and the
blockchain payload is developed, stringent testing will
be carried out on the blockchain-based satellite tasking
to ensure secure, reliable connectivity and performance
between the DSI infrastructure and ground-based users in
real-time. The DSI infrastructure will advance the
development of commercial use cases linking space
resource providers, satellite application and fintech
companies with an ultra-secure and low-latency network.
"We are honoured to receive support
from EUREKA, Enterprise Singapore and Innovate UK as we
forge ahead on our mission to develop a New Space
Economy and minimise the entry barriers to space with
the DSI," said Nick Trudgen, chief commercial officer
and UK director at SpaceChain. "Space exploration
projects are tremendous in scale and require close
collaboration and partnership, and this milestone
unlocks new opportunities for building commercial
solutions that leverage space and blockchain
applications."
The innovation will be made
possible collectively with the blockchain payload and
software package developed by SpaceChain, the Unicorn-2
PocketQube platform built by Alba Orbital, and on-demand
real-time communication provided by Addvalue through
their Inter-Satellite Data Relay System (IDRS) that
leverages LEO-Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) links.
"With the global blockchain market
size projected to grow at a CAGR of 67.3% per annum from
USD3.0 billion in 2020 to USD39.7 billion by 2025*, it
is undeniable that blockchain technologies will play a
very significant role in space applications, especially
in the name of cyber-security in protecting the
different assets in the space information network. The
Addvalue IDRS solution is a key enabler in ensuring the
availability of low latency and reliable connectivity
for the effective blockchain applications in a
decentralized and distributed satellite infrastructure.
The funding from EUREKA epitomizes our collective
innovation in redefining the future of space
applications. Addvalue, through the offering of its
proven inter-satellite communication expertise and
developmental capabilities for such embedded systems, is
excited to be part of the consortium which put us in a
pole position to target the fast growing blockchain
market in a satellite environment," said Francis Low,
Head of Advanced Development at Addvalue Innovation.
"We are very excited to collaborate
with SpaceChain and Addvalue as we integrate our
expertise for ground-to-satellite communications to
create this pioneering DSI Innovation," said Tom
Walkinshaw, founder and CEO of Alba Orbital. "Built upon
our shared vision in advancing the frontiers of space
technologies for businesses, the partnership will
catalyse the use of space systems and services in the
commercial market with unparalleled performance and
security."
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