US-based SERA opens up registrations for future sub-orbital flight through Telegram app

New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) US-based Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA), which plans to take six people on a sub-orbital flight, opened registrations on Tuesday for a future Blue Origin New Shepard mission through a mini-application on the Telegram instant messaging platform.

Aspiring space travellers can sign up for the New Shepard mission using the SERA Mission Control mini app, powered by TON Blockchain, and complete challenges, build communities and collect SpaceDust, a special points system for the initiative.

"We are excited to open this platform and invite the world to join us on this mission. This is the first time a space program has been in the hands of the people," Joshua Skurla, co-founder of SERA, said.

The SERA programme offers suborbital flights to citizens from countries with little or no space presence. Five seats have been offered to partner nations India, Nigeria, Indonesia, Brazil and Thailand. The sixth seat is open to any person from a country that has not been sanctioned by the US.

This integration leverages the massive reach of Telegram and the unique capabilities of the TON Blockchain to create a new model for public engagement in spaceflight.

Astronaut candidates and their supporters will have to accumulate SpaceDust to rise in the leaderboard and be eligible to earn the community's vote and win one of six seats aboard the flight.

The voting will run on TON's native infrastructure and serve as a decentralised voting mechanism, allowing the SERA community to collectively choose astronauts and experiments they fly, a company statement said.

"By building on TON, we've created a one-of-a-kind system that empowers the global community to not only participate in the journey but to directly select who goes to space. This is the future of space exploration, built for everyone," SERA co-founder Sam Hutchison said.

SERA has also started its school and college outreach in India for conducting science experiments, which will go as payloads on board the New Shepard mission.

This will enable the first student-led science experiment to fly on this mission, truly democratising how experiments are conducted in space. They have also partnered with Cornell University to vet the applications.

New Shepard will fly the selected astronauts on an 11-minute journey past the Karman line (100 km), the internationally recognised boundary of space.

Astronauts will experience several minutes of weightlessness before making a controlled descent back to the landing pad. PTI SKU SKU KSS KSS