European Space Agency Blockchain Project Will Store Satellite Data
Storing satellite data for safer mining projects is one of the main objectives of this new project.
Blockchain technology even reaches Outer Space. It did not arise only as the technology to conduct transactions with cryptocurrencies, but lately, it has been incorporated into sectors as diverse as the food or transportation industry. But now it also reaches the mining sector and could store satellite data with a new project.
The European Space Agency (ESA), an important intergovernmental organization dedicated to space exploration, is financing a new blockchain project to boost the global mining industry.
The objective is to improve data transparency for the mining industry by combining data from satellites with the block of chains. In this way, the information would be kept safer.
To make this project a reality, ESA, which has also contributed to other applications of blockchain technology, has funded this new project together with the Scottish company Hypervine.
The Platform Will Avoid Fatal Accidents
One of the most important objectives of this project is to help prevent miscalculations in the mining sector that can cause catastrophic or fatal accidents in the mining industry.
Blockchain could help in this aspect by allowing the creation of a unified and immutable database related to the procedures that workers must follow to avoid accidents or related to important data to ensure safety in the mining sector.
The project is based on Hypervine technology, which allows mining teams and their subsidiaries to record data about their work in an immutable ledger. In this way, they seek to eliminate the risk that small alterations in the data are extended along a chain and cause serious errors or accidents.
How Will It Work?
The initiative consists of registering information from satellites in a distributed ledger. This would provide mining companies with a reliable and coordinated data source to replace traditional paper sources, which must be verified by multiple teams in different locations. So blockchain technology, again, would allow us to save time, streamline traditional processes, and avoid accidents.
In that sense, the satellite database project powered by blockchain will help reduce the costs of the mining industry. All of this since mining companies can spend months to get the correct data from often fragmented sources, something that wastes time and delays some processes.
It Would Protect the Environment
Thanks to the operational efficiency that this project would allow to achieve, a positive impact on environmental conditions would also be achieved by reducing carbon emissions after process automation.
Beatrice Barresi, a technical officer at ESA Space Solutions, recently said that the use of satellite data for mining registers an increase in investments, while the expansion of these initiatives with technologies such as blockchain is expected to provide better commercial results.
“One of our main goals is to make industries such as extraction safer, cleaner and more responsible. Working with companies like Hypervine allows us to achieve these goals while improving standards in multiple industries. It has been great to work with Hypervine in this project and we look forward to the next phases”, Barresi commented.
By María Rodríguez