The Space Economy: The principles of selling time and space

How Machine-2-Machine Blockchain Payments Pioneered In The Space Economy Will Improve Global Supply Chain Logistics and IT Disaster Recovery. 

By Samson Williams & George Pullen 

Have you ever been standing barefoot in the security line at the airport wondering exactly how often they disinfect those yellow footprints in the body scanning machine? Only to have your thoughts about airport sanitation practices interrupted by some airline agent yelling to the not quite socially distanced masses, “Is there anyone in line on the 08:30 flight to San Francisco?”. And then that one person in line wearing a green Patagonia fleece vest and khakis raises his hand and begins to shuffle up to the front. The “shuffle” is actually what this article is about.

Yes, we’re going to talk about blockchain-based payment systems and perhaps even sprinkle in the words ‘token’, ‘cryptocurrencies’ and the phrase ‘The Space Economy’. But those things, those digital thingamajiggies, are an aside to a larger agreed upon social interaction, “the shuffle”. What we’re speaking of is the unspoken social consensus of when Person A from the airlines asks, “Who is irresponsibly late?” Society, that is you and me standing in our wafer-thin socks contemplating how much fungus is on the floor, automatically executes a social contract that allows this irresponsible person to “shuffle” past every other responsible party to the head of the line.

That shuffle is actually an amazing feat of culture. It is the sum of all social expectations, laws and cultural programming executed with no more thought than, say wearing a mask to protect the people around you. The question is why can’t cargo ships shuffle?

Time and Blockchain

In the scenario above there is a social contract executed where all parties reach consensus and simultaneously, instantly and automatically agree to tithe (give up) both Time and Space to allow the party without enough Time to skip everyone. We don’t often think of Time (and Space) as commodities. However, if you’re running late to the airport, how much money would you pay to gain more Time so that you don’t miss your flight?

More importantly, if you’re one of the people who value their Time enough to show up on time and with plenty of Time to spare, how much do you want to be paid for your extra Time? Hold on Samson, people don’t have Time just laying around. That is true. Time, especially your Time, is more finite than Bitcoin. Hence why your Time is actually very valuable, not only to you but to others. In many instances your entire career, lifestyle and experience living is based on how you’re compensated for your Time.

Now that we all agree with the old phrase, “Time is money”. The question becomes, “How do I track, trade and monetise that Time?” Blockchain of course.

Time, Space & Logistics

Now that we’re all certain that Time has value we’re still uncertain how to make money from Time itself. Afterall, no one gives you Time. You’re just born with it. How we choose to spend our Time is up to the individual. But now that you’re thinking, “Oh sh*t! I do spend my Time” we’re right back to how do you sell your extra Time? Not physical activity or energy but Time itself.

To answer that question, a quick example of Time and Space. If you take 8 dominoes and line them up in a row, approximately ½ an inch apart you can appreciate both Time and Space. You can see the Space because the dominoes now make a line that takes up about 6 inches of space. Too, there is about ½ an inch of Space between each domino. How does this line of dominoes demonstrate Time?

Knock the first one over, into the one in front of it. How long did it take for the last domino to fall? That period, between initiating the cascade of one domino into the next, is Time. It’ll probably take about a second and a half as it’s a short line of dominoes. But if you lined up dominoes in a line between New York and Los Angeles and you did the same experiment, you see how it would take a lot more Time for the last domino to fall.

What does Time and Space have to do with Logistics? Well, remember the “shuffle”? How the San Francisco bound, green Patagonia vest guy skipped the entire line in order to make his flight? Suppose you could replicate the speed and efficiency of that culturally-driven, social, time saving “shuffle” contract with machines? Specifically, for cargo ships and planes? Initially, you may think, “How much would a business pay for Time and Space?” When the real question is, “How much of my business’ extra Time and Space can I sell?” Turns out Time really can be money.

Autonomous Vehicles, Drones, & Supply Chain Logistics

Before we go any further, the moral of this article is how blockchain-based digital payments between drones / autonomous trucks, ships and planes will fundamentally change IT Disaster Recovery, Crisis Management and Business Resiliency in Global Supply Chain and Logistics.

But who wants to read an article about Supply Chain disaster response and recovery? Especially when we can speculate on the value of these soon to be created Time and Space cryptocurrencies? Spoiler alert, they’re going to be “tokens” but there will be secondary exchanges where the value of these Time and Space tokens fluctuates VIOLENTLY based primarily on global weather conditions.

But again, no one wants to read an article on how Global Warming and Climate Change is the biggest threat to not only supply chain and logistics but also to Humanity. So, instead of addressing the fact that Humanity is killing the Earth, let’s get back to how “Peer-to-Peer” payments will work between autonomous vehicles, ships, planes and of course satellites and maintenance drones in the Logistics industry and of course The Space Economy.

The question is how do we automate the “shuffle” protocol so that semi and fully autonomous vehicles can make digital, nearly instantaneous payments between each other in exchange for Time and Space? The purpose of enabling this payment system is so that shipping vehicles, vessels and other machines can “shuffle”, trading Time and Space to increase efficiency in the Global Supply Chain system, especially during times of disaster or business interruption.

For instance, whether we’re talking about ransomware attacks on supply chains (i.e. NotPetya, VSA Software or Colonial Pipeline) or just a big ole ship blocking a key transportation artery (i.e. the Ever Given blocking the Suez Canal for six days in March 2021, causing $6B to $10B dollars a day in losses), how can we enable these cargo vessels to be:

— Notified of an event

— Reach near-instantaneous agreement to “shuffle” schedules, places in line and physical storage/docking space

— Compensate parties for their Time and Space

The Space Economy – Supply Chain & Blockchain Payment’s Premier Domain

Implementing a Time and Space blockchain-based payment system on the Globe’s supply chain system would be impossible. Far too many political considerations and vying egos to make reaching consensus possible. Too, it would require a level of transparency of knowing where ships from various ports and countries were actually located to work. After all, it gets incredibly hard to avoid tariffs, taxes, embargoes and smuggled oil, arms, honey, rare earth minerals and other valuable commodities if there is a global “ship traffic control” that monitors all cargo ships.

Technically with IoT and GPS devices the size of quarters, it’s not an impossible task. However, from a sovereign nation / political perspective, we’re more likely to agree on how to address Global Warming than share real-time shipping and logistics information. Note – this would also imply the sharing of real-time manufacturing and production data. Which from a National Security / Defense perspective countries would be reticent to provide.

Space though does not have quite that problem…yet. While there are numerous Nations interested in Space and pushing the development of spaceports and The Space Economy, The Space Economy is still in its infancy. In 2021 terms The Space Economy is worth approximately $450B USD. By the end of the decade Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other investment firms put the projected value of The Space Economy between $4T and $10T USD. Understanding where The Space Economy is now, we can appreciate that there is still ample time to implement a blockchain-based autonomous, “P2P”, machine payment system in Space.

In Space, this autonomous blockchain-based payment system would be used less for Time and more for Space, particularly amongst satellites and maintenance drones. Yes, there would still be a great demand for Time Tokens. However, in Cislunar Orbit (the area between the Earth and the Moon) the real demand is for space (physical distance and orbit) which Space Tokens provide.

Author’s note: for the purposes of this article we’re going to refer to the currency of The Space Economy as Time Tokens and Space Tokens. In our book, Blockchain & The Space Economy we generally refer to the currency of Space as “PTES” (pronounced “peets”): Periodic Table of Element Stablecoins. PTES will be another form of currency in Space, based on what type of “rare earth” minerals are eventually mined in Space. However, for Space logistics Time and Space Tokens will be the medium of exchange.

As we move towards maturing The Space Economy, the implementation of blockchain-based autonomous payment systems will be done for a very simple logistics reason: space debris. One on hand Space businesses must be incentivised not to litter in Space. Space Trash is dangerous and expensive. On the other hand, the Global Space community needs a way of rewarding and incentivising the tracking and reporting of Space garbage. Last but not least, Space-based businesses (meaning businesses that have physical assets in Space: hotels, satellites, constellations, Space Stations, etc…) need a way to “shuffle” from time to time.

Shuffle in the sense of moving up Time schedules to match premium launch windows, terrestrial weather, Space weather and the numerous other considerations that come into play when coordinating the nature of Global / International Space business. In addition to Time considerations in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and beyond, there are also numerous Space considerations. Space in the sense of tracking objects, coordinating launches, reaching global consensus on orbits, flight paths, speeds, etc…and of course the protection of assets and the Life safety of those working in Space from Space debris.

Most of these complex negotiations will be done automatically between narrow Ai (small “i” because we can teach them to be smart but they’re not naturally intelligent, yet), drones and other artificial constructs that are operated by some sort of Ai / Machine Learning. Regardless of which type of automaton performs the “shuffle” negotiations of Time and Space, again most of the time to avoid collision in Space, there will be negotiations performed.

Time and Space MAY be traded and exchanged if both parties agree to enter into this exchange. These real-time (potentially smart contract enabled but don’t tell any Space / Blockchain Lawyer I said that) negotiations will be settled in blockchain-based Time Tokens and Space Tokens, not cash. Especially not cash. As once you get off the planet traditional concepts of money (USD, Euro, Bitcoin, Doge, etc…) have no value, whereas Time and Space become infinitely more valuable.

Of course, the question becomes how does one acquire Time Tokens and Space Tokens? This gets a bit tricky as they’d have immediate use (hence not financial securities) but could also go up in value based on demand, supply and urgency. Urgency in Space is key because from time to time in Space you can run out of Time to your detriment. Initially, Time and Space Tokens won’t be called tokens. They may be called “credits” or “favours”. Meaning, Blue Origins does Virgin Galactic “a solid” because they’re both working on some part of the Artemis Accords.

That “solid” is a favour negotiated between Humans because they both have an incentive to achieve some contractual service level agreement with NASA, Space Force or a spaceport like the Maine Space Grant Consortium. Too, once a favour is gained it needs no blockchain to be redeemed. Other “favours” will be negotiated in real-time and tracked via the exchange of “favour tokens” typically redeemed for beers at Earthside bars and conferences. However, as The Space Economy continues to mature, the business of favour and courtesy tokens will be formalised into blockchain-based Time Tokens and Space Tokens.

Hence why businesses that operate with steller safety records in Space will be incentivised and rewarded as they’ll have more Time and Space to spare. In Space, we replace “efficiency” with safety. As it does not matter how efficient your Space business is if it’s not safe. Hence, the genesis of Time and Space tokens will be a reflection of how safe and efficient Space businesses are. Safety becomes currency, as safe businesses have the bandwidth and capability to trade both Time and Space to their fellow Space operators who from time to time will need to “shuffle” to the front of the line.

Conclusion – Quantum Computing and the Space-Time Continuum

First, I lied. We will have both Time and Space Tokens on Earth before the decade is out. Supply chain and logistics companies will pay for this premium service (very similar to how Clear or Global Entry charges you to save Time at the airport) and new “commodity” exchanges specifically for Time and Space trade/exchange/selling will be created. Why? With satellite imagery from businesses like OrbitsEdge we can already identify and track vessels anywhere on the globe and that’s just their civilian offering.

What we do not yet have is an exchange/platform for the owners of these vessels (e.g.: Maersk) to seamlessly pay each other for Time and Space. As shipping goes digital and autonomous, machine-to-machine communications are further enabled and improved (again for safety reasons), this will also enable autonomous M2M (machine-2-machine) payments to be negotiated in real-time. So that part of the conversation isn’t that exciting. Wait a decade and it’ll be as normal as boarding a flight using your phone as both your ticket, your digital ID and your health passport. Ps – that’s coming too. Thanks, COVID19.

For me, the real mystery is what happens when we crack quantum computing? Going back to that line of dominoes. In the quantum state of entanglement, there is no Space nor Time. When you push over the first domino all the dominoes fall at exactly the same “time”, even though they are “spaced” out. Crazy right?

At any rate, if you’re still reading, machine-to-machine blockchain-based IoT payments will fundamentally change Global Supply Chain and Logistics, as well as IT Disaster Recovery before the decade is out. This paradigm shift will be even more radical than when ships got GPS and computers got The Cloud. The question is, “How do we get there?” The answer is, “Via The Space Economy.”

See you all in orbit!

About the Author

Samson Williams and George Pullen are Co-Founders of the Washington, DC-based think tank, Milky Way Economy, where they explore the future of The Space Economy. When not thinking about the future of technology and economics in Space they are adjunct professors at UNH School of Law and Columbia University in NYC. For business inquires reach out to them at www.milkywayeconomy.com