Frequently Asked Question

What is TEE?

A Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) is a secure area within a device's central processor isolated from the regular operating system and other applications. It provides a protected space for executing code and processing sensitive data with enhanced security guarantees. You can explore more about TEEs through the Perplexity thread.

Where can I find research about the SpaceTee you are building with?

You can read more about SpaceTEE: Secure and Tamper-Proof Computing in Space using CubeSats research by the CryptoSat team, Yan Michalevsky and Yonatan Winetraub.

How do we know the satellite was tampered with?

If the adversary gets access to the satellite before launch, it could tamper with the spacecraft's hardware and software. One way to make the solution tamper-evident is to coat the computer with Kapton tape and measure the satellite's inertial moment before launch.

The measurement is compared to the observed rotation rate of the satellite once in Orbit. It can be measured by tracking the antenna's range rate as the satellite revolves or via direct imaging of the satellite (depending on launch configuration).

By measuring the rotation rate changes, we can estimate the satellite's actual moment of inertia and verify that it is identical to the expected one measured before launch. Tampering with the coated hardware or adding a new one inevitably changes the inertia moment.

Further analysis and simulations are required to assess this method's constraints. Although it is possible to reintroduce the original inertial moment, it is challenging to do so within the time window of a launch effort.

In addition, during a launch,the rocket's vibrations on the satellite are likely to shake it apart and destroy any component that was not correctly installed and tested for vibrations.

You can read more about it in the SpaceTEE paper.

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How can SpaceCoin help prevent geo-sybils?

With ever-orbiting satellites, we can assign them the task of verifying the location of a particular device on Earth with our Proof-of-Location entropy protocol.

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Why is it not better to build 10 validators and distribute them on Earth instead?

Currently, space computation capacity is limited compared to usual data center resources. However, the future of space computing is promising. Operating a space-based data center in orbit will be far more feasible due to infinite access to solar energy and a more robust theoretical security model.

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What type of applications can I run on the SpaceCoin blockchain?

Current implementations are kept private for various PoCs demos to showcase possibilities. In the future, you can run any Dapp, as you are familiar with from UTXO-based, EVM-based, or SVM-based chains. Check the page for use cases we are researching.

Why run infrastructure on a space-based data center?

Space data centers can utilize high-intensity, uninterrupted solar power unhindered by day/night cycles, weather, and atmospheric losses (attenuation). This enables orders of magnitude lower marginal energy costs, resulting in drastic operating cost savings versus their terrestrial counterparts. A recently published study claims the former.

What are the brief cost figures between space-based data centers and data centers on Earth?

The cost comparison of a single 40 MW cluster operated for ten years in space vs on land is striking: Terrestrial $ 167 m and space $ 8.2 m. This significant cost difference underscores the prudence of space-based solutions. Source-Lumen Orbit Whitepaper

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What is a total addressable market in the space-based data center industry through top-down analysis?

The global data center market size was estimated at USD 256.05 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach around USD 775.73 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 11.72% - Source.
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The advantages of space-based data centers are
- Reduced cooling costs
- Access to solar power
- Potentially lower latency for specific applications
- Significant reduction in CO2 emissions
- No need for water cooling

Estimating the percentage of the market that could be addressable by space-based solutions given unique advantages and the fact that space-based data centers are still a nascent concept, we can conservatively estimate that they could potentially capture 5-10% of the overall data center market in the long term.

Using the projected market size for 2034 (USD 775.73 billion) and assuming a 5-10% potential market share: TAM for space-based data centers (2034) = USD 775.73 billion * (5% to 10%)= USD 38.79 billion to USD 77.57 billion

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How do I know you are not running in the garage but in orbit?

We will work with space partners to verify our proof of authenticity in orbit. We are generally interested in remote attestations.

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We will work with Iridium, a trusted entity in location discovery, to verify our proof of authenticity in orbit. We can leverage the modem's location during transmission, i.e., being in different places over Earth's continents in less than a 90-minute. The only way to move that fast would be in orbit. We will work with the Iridium provider to show signed transmitted data that can be verified with Iridium.

We will work with Iridium to make this resource publicly available, as it is currently only available to private satellite contractors.

Verification through amateur RF antenna is impossible, even through public SatNogs infrastructure. To verify would incur costs to obtain a license and access to AWS Ground Station or other way around having sophisticated antennas to realize two-way transmission.

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What are your Satellite Catalog Numbers, aka NORAD ID?

Our satellite catalog numbers, known as NORAD ID, are the following.

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- 52761

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- 55051

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- 98973

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Can we use different Internet providers in orbit to have better bandwidth?

While we currently rely on the Iridium network, and Starlink integration will take time, we don't deny that in the future, we can leverage constellations from Kuiper and OneWeb. More satellite internet constellations will be available.

Where can I find your slides from past talks?

We recently talked at DeCompute 2024 in Singapore and during Trusted Espresso. Slides are available here.

What would Spacecoin be used for?

SpaceCoin is a blockchain that leverages available space computing on satellites located in orbit. It can be used for a variety of applications, from secure data storage to decentralized applications. You can read more about specific use cases on our website.

Where should I go if I have more questions that still need to be answered here?

You can find us at our Spacecoin public telegram group. We are happy to answer your questions.

How much does it cost to launch a satellite?

Current costs per launch can go up to USD 1M, yet we see decreasing costs.

The world is on the verge of a step change in launch costs, thanks to the development of several partially or fully reusable heavy-lift launchers, which are expected to offer a launch price of around $5 million per launch long-term. This significant reduction in launch costs is expected to democratize access to space, opening up opportunities for a wide range of industries to leverage space-based technologies. With a payload capacity of 100 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO), this translates to approximately $30 per kilogram.

Costs could drop to as low as $10 per kilogram. At these price points, launch costs are no longer a primary driver for orbital data centers.

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What is the hardware you are currently operating?

We are levaring power of Arm v8 64bit which is power-savvy and fits our current power budget. In the future, hardware will improve to accommodate more complex space computation cases.
Detailed technical specs are
- 8GB RAM Memory
- Storage up to 1TB
- GPU Speed up to 8 TOPS
- Linux Debian
- Cryptographic coprocessor for supporting state-of-the-art encryption and data source attestation

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What is your current bandwidth of one node?

The daily data rate per node is 250KB, but with ongoing experiments, it could increase to 300MB in the current setup. We should have a more up-to-date benchmark for bandwidth by the end of 2024

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What is the current and future communication hardware between SpaceCoin and Earth-based systems?

We are leveraging the Iridium network and soon Iridium NEXT. Iridium NEXT data speeds are expected to reach up to 512 kbps. This is a radio frequency (RF) type of communication.

We will be switching to optical/laser communications in the future. They offer higher bandwidth and cheaper data rates. Optical communications can achieve data rates 100 times faster than the fastest RF systems. Traditional RF communications typically peak at around 1 Gbps, while optical systems can exceed 10 Gbps.

A recent experiment by NASA's DSOC system on the Psyche spacecraft transmitted data at 267 Megabits per second (Mbps) from 30 million kilometers away. [1], [2]

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What is the latency of your infrastructure?

Latency varies significantly but is predictable according to orbital mechanics. Sending 1KB to one particular node in the network can take from a few seconds to 30 minutes. In the future, it will be instant.

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What is the time of one orbit and the speed of orbiting your satellite?

Our current orbit time is approximately 90 minutes, and we fly at a speed of approximately 7km per second. Each orbit repeats approximately every ~ two weeks.

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Is it possible to use RISC-V architecture?

While ARM and RISC-V have distinct approaches to security in their architectures, it could be possible. Currently, we are running experiments on what we already have available in orbit (ARM-v8). Yet, we would need rigorous testing to justify the change.

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Do you have any hardware acceleration for cryptography available on satellite?

While we are currently limited on the underlying hardware, and we expect it will hugely improve in the near-term future, we've demonstrated sufficient capacity for block production and any signatures needed for active validation with current hardware in private benchmarks.

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What are potential applications for Cosmic entropy, aka CosmicRNG?

True Random Number Generators (TRNGs) serve several critical purposes across different domains:

Security Applications

TRNGs are essential for cryptographic operations, where they generate encryption keys, nonces, and initial values to secure data transmission and storage1. Their unpredictability makes them crucial for maintaining strong security protocols and protecting sensitive information

Gaming and Gambling

The gaming and gambling industries rely heavily on TRNGs to:

Ensure fairness in games
Generate unpredictable outcomes for card shuffling
Create random dice rolls
Determine slot machine results

Key Advantages of TRNGs

True random number generators are particularly valuable because they:

Generate numbers from physical processes like atmospheric noise or radioactive decay1
Provide genuine unpredictability and randomness2
Resist attempts to predict their output3
Form a crucial part of the "chain of trust" in security systems

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Our cosmicRNG relies on Muon-Ra: Quantum random number generation from cosmic rays

which leveraging cosmic rays coming from deep space and our center of solar system.

This CosmicRNG can be used on various ceremonies where there is strict requirement for high quality entropy, i.e. trusted setup, something can't be manipulated.

We will be expanding more on this and trying demonstrate with small mini-game.

You can meanwhile learn more about HRNG

Where I can find SpaceCoin media kit?

You can find media kit for Spacecoin at our Github

What is future expansion plan of satellite constellation and space computation capacity?

We are in chats with numerous constellations where we count over 100+ satellites for our space computation could be offered for SpaceCoin disposal and improve network bandwidth exponentially.

Will Spacecoin nodes contain ARM TrustZone in the future?

While we are in ongoing implementation demonstrate SpaceTEE per se, we considered having specialised hardware on orbit including ARM TrustZones. This could significantly enhance our security model. Current timeline whenever we will get hardware with ARM Trust Zones is in works to get brief estimates.

You can learn more about TrustZones

NXP
What is the practical use case of security features like arm trustzone?
Demystifying ARM TrustZone for Microcontrollers

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When we can expect potential increase daily bandwidth for network over 1GB?

As we would like to, we are seeking to improve our bandwidth to cross 1GB on our network cumulative and cross 10GB per day. Current limitations are underlying hardware where we working to accommodate expansion of network bandwidth for more application. You can understand it like Bitcoin era (2009) where we will gradually transition to more bandwidth like Ethereum 2014.

Would be possible to do multi-planetary network?

Theoretically it is possible based on few assumptions to create SpaceCoin network between Earth and Mars.

Average Travel Time

Light takes approximately 12.5 minutes to travel from Earth to Mars at their average distance of 225 million kilometers.

Variable Travel Times

The actual travel time fluctuates depending on the planets' positions:

‍Closest Approach

At their theoretical closest distance of 54.6 million kilometers, light would take about 3 minutes to travel between the planets

Farthest Distance

When the planets are at their maximum separation of 401 million kilometers, light takes considerably longer to travel between them, approximately 22 minutes.

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Would be possible to encrypt satellite position and trajectory for enhanced security without revealing them to 3rd party?

Space traffic has become increasingly congested, with thousands of satellites orbiting Earth and creating potential collision risks. The challenge lies in predicting and preventing these collisions while maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive satellite position data.

Lot of governments and satellite owners doesn't want to disclose satellites position due safety or political reasons.

In the past, Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251 satellites has collided in 2008 due governments not disclosing precise trajectory. Satellites should be by public data pass each other with reserve 584 meters.

MPC Implementation

‍The solution involves using Sharemind MPC technology to perform collision detection calculations without revealing the actual positions of satellites. This allows satellite operators to:

Protect their proprietary orbital data
Participate in collision prevention
Maintain operational security

The technology enables satellite operators to receive collision warnings while keeping their exact satellite positions private. This balance between security and safety represents a significant advancement in space traffic management

You can learn more how current PoC works in wild to encrypt trajectories.

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SpaceCoin MPC implementation

We can have immediate access between satellites and collision courses could be calculated within SpaceCoin network within Earth's orbit and not go outside of satellite network for enhanced security.

Frequently Asked Questions