“In Doge we trust.” What started as a joke and a riff on a popular meme is now a slightly more valuable joke, a cryptocurrency that is still partly meme but worth real money. In fact, here is Doge paying for its “first-ever commercial lunar payload.”
On April 1, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk joked that SpaceX would put “a literal Dogecoin on the literal Moon.” Musk says a lot of stuff on social media and not all of it is true, but this one definitely is: SpaceX is literally putting a Dogecoin on the literal Moon in 2022. It wasn’t an April Fools’ joke.
The announcement comes from a company named Geometric Energy Corporation, which says that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 will carry a 40 kg (88-pound) satellite, aptly called DOGE-1, to the Moon in the first quarter of 2022. The goal of the mission will be to “obtain lunar-spatial intelligence” from the sensors and cameras on board, with the entire mission being paid for in Dogecoin.
The news drops just one day after Elon Musk’s divisive appearance as host on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, where, during one of the skits, he defined Doge as “a hustle.” Dogecoin dropped in value as SNL kicked off, crashing during Musk’s opening monologue. It continued to drop as the show progressed, but has since picked up again.
According to the press release, the partnership and the future mission shows that Doge is mature and reliable enough to be able to fully finance a lunar mission (unlike traditional banks), a sign of the future of “interplanetary commerce” and the application of cryptocurrency beyond the confines of Earth. In less fancier words, this is a flex. “We're excited to launch DOGE-1 to the Moon!” SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero gushes.
What Elon Musk promises, Elon Musk the Dogefather delivers. At least, as regards to Doge.
The announcement comes from a company named Geometric Energy Corporation, which says that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 will carry a 40 kg (88-pound) satellite, aptly called DOGE-1, to the Moon in the first quarter of 2022. The goal of the mission will be to “obtain lunar-spatial intelligence” from the sensors and cameras on board, with the entire mission being paid for in Dogecoin.
The news drops just one day after Elon Musk’s divisive appearance as host on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, where, during one of the skits, he defined Doge as “a hustle.” Dogecoin dropped in value as SNL kicked off, crashing during Musk’s opening monologue. It continued to drop as the show progressed, but has since picked up again.
According to the press release, the partnership and the future mission shows that Doge is mature and reliable enough to be able to fully finance a lunar mission (unlike traditional banks), a sign of the future of “interplanetary commerce” and the application of cryptocurrency beyond the confines of Earth. In less fancier words, this is a flex. “We're excited to launch DOGE-1 to the Moon!” SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero gushes.
What Elon Musk promises, Elon Musk the Dogefather delivers. At least, as regards to Doge.
SpaceX launching satellite Doge-1 to the moon next year
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2021
– Mission paid for in Doge
– 1st crypto in space
– 1st meme in space
To the mooooonnn!!https://t.co/xXfjGZVeUW
SpaceX is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2021