Lifestyle brand SpaceOne to mint NFT mission patches from the International Space Station

Lifestyle brand SpaceOne Industries plans to sell non-fungible token (NFT) space patches minted on the International Space Station (ISS).

In the coming days, a limited edition of 4,000 NFT digital mission patches will be minted through the Artemis Space Network, a division of Artemis Music Entertainment, which is devoted to connecting artists, producers, creators and communities to space exploration. You can purchase the NFTs on SpaceOne's website.

"The APIs were flown to space on Feb. 16, which was facilitated through Artemis. The API is the software that will activate the minting," a SpaceOne representative told Space.com.

SpaceOne founder Nick Graham, who says his space experience includes marketing Virgin Galactic space tourism flights back in 2006, started this new venture to get more people involved in space exploration, especially those who are interested in the coming virtual world known as the metaverse.

"The way I look at it, though, we are all astronauts," Graham told Space.com. "We are on a planet right now going 67,000 miles an hour [108,000 kph]."

The NFT project is backed by Ethereum, a major blockchain. SpaceOne will mint the NFT space patches on the ISS, using computer space that Artemis Space Network brokered via commercial space services company Nanoracks. 

Some of the proceeds will benefit the Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization that advocates for greater space exploration. The partnership continues a years-long collaboration between Graham and Planetary Society CEO (and former TV "Science Guy") Bill Nye on various projects.

"We're really delighted to be brought into this because, as a space exploration nonprofit, we're expected to be forward leaning, and tech leaning, in what we do in all things," Richard Chute, the Planetary Society's chief development officer, told Space.com. "That includes fundraising."

Chute said the society has spent the last 18 months or so learning about NFTs and cryptocurrencies to stay current in the donation scene. NFTs are units of data, stored in a digital registry called a blockchain, that represent unique assets. Selling NFTs may be done through minting, which requires publishing a token on the blockchain to allow purchase. 

To do so, sellers require access to a crypto blockchain, as well as an NFT marketplace. The risk of buying an NFT, however, is that it operates independently of traditional financial systems and its value is therefore less predictable.

SpaceOne terms this debut launch of digital items MetaMission 1, which it says will be the first of a large set of events catering to space fans. Future events, the company promises, will highlight big space science and exploration milestones, including the launch of NASA's moonbound Artemis 1 mission and the first operational images of the James Webb Space Telescope, both of which are set to take place later in 2022.