Dogecoin-funded SpaceX Moon Mission To Launch in January

DOGE-1, a Dogecoin-funded SpaceX moon mission, has received a key regulatory approval from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

The approval is one of the precursors to the final Federal Communications Commission license, which the mission is still yet to receive.

The project was first unveiled in May 2021, with space technology firm Geometric Energy Corporation currently in the process of developing the DOGE-1 satellite. This satellite is scheduled to be deployed into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

In an X post published on Tuesday, Samuel Reid, CEO of Geometric Energy Corporation, confirmed that DOGE-1 had received approval for DOGE-1 X-Band, but was still waiting on other approvals.

“The National Telecommunications and Information Administration approved DOGE-1 X-Band (0083-EX-CN-2022 on https://ntia.doc.gov),” Reid said in his post. “We have yet to get the FCC license grant which will address X-Band and S-Band.”

The DOGE-1 satellite will feature a miniature screen designed to showcase advertisements, images, and logos, with the content being broadcast to Earth. Notably, the launch of DOGE-1 will mark the first instance of a satellite being entirely funded using DOGE tokens.

The launch of DOGE-1 was initially announced in May 2021 by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who disclosed that the satellite would be part of a rideshare collaboration aboard a rocket launched jointly by Intuitive Machines and NASA.

The planned launch of DOGE-1 has faced repeated delays attributed to Intuitive Machines’ launch provider, SpaceX. Consequently, the originally scheduled launch for 2022 has been postponed, with the current target set for January 2024.

DOGE-1 isn’t the only Dogecoin-related moon mission currently in the works.

Two weeks ago, Dogecoin announced plans to send a physical Dogecoin to the Moon next year in collaboration with space robotics firm Astrobotic Technology.

The upcoming Peregrine Mission One (PM1) by Astrobotic is poised to ferry 21 payloads, featuring cargo contributed by various entities including governments, companies, universities, and NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

As a part of the PM1 mission, the rocket is slated to carry a physical Bitcoin token sponsored by crypto exchange BitMEX. Additionally, it will transport a replica of the Genesis Block, commissioned by Bitcoin Magazine, symbolizing the first block of Bitcoin ever mined.