For decades, the space industry has made way for the inauguration of numerous developments and discoveries that have benefited the routines of our daily lives. Ever since the first satellite parked itself in the geostationary orbit in 1962, our world has grown increasingly digital, raising an increased demand for satellites to be developed. 

Today, with only 1,800 to 2,000 orbital parking spots available, the orbit is gradually becoming saturated, with satellite operators competing to reserve their own plots of the orbit around our planet. Be it for commercial, military or scientific purposes, with finite space, orbital parking is now a vital commodity that needs to be skilfully mediated. 

Currently, registering a satellite or requesting a desired orbit space from regulatory domains involves manual processes and tedious calculations. But with DµST, these arduous processes can be simplified. 

DµST aims to streamline this procedure by generating a hyper-ledger to host transactions, where regulatory domains allocate orbital parking spots according to legislation and grant permissions to companies that have requested access.

Using the ledger, regulatory domains can tune into the network to sell or lease reserved orbit spaces with their own unique specifications. Companies may choose their plot of orbit to park their satellite and register their intent for approval by the domain. This ledger will also provide us with contractual information, such as orbital maneuvering, deorbiting and orbital debris. 

In essence, regulatory domains can either sell or lease the orbital spots for specific periods of time, and companies need only make the necessary payments and register their mission with the regulatory domains on DµST Network. Upon approval from the domain, a binding smart contract will be created and recorded on the ledger.

With DµST, not only will we be able to assist companies in navigating the bureaucracy of securing orbital parking spots, we will also be able to keep track of the satellites when the network integrates with the base stations by reading the telemetry. 

This will result in a secure, immutable global record that can enforce contracts and is validated by actors, who are permitted by satellite operators and regulatory domains. This means that any maneuvering of registered satellites will be recorded in the ledger, allowing all the associated actors to view and audit the record, whether for insurance, licensing or research purposes. 

(Photo: ESA)