Elon Musk to send Dogecoin-funded satellite to Moon

SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk-run SpaceX is now accepting the new cryptocurrency

Dogecoin

to launch an upcoming satellite named DOGE-1 to the Moon.

The DOGE-1 is a cubesat to acquire "lunar-spatial intelligence" using onboard cameras and sensors, reports The

Verge

.

The satellite is being developed by Geometric Energy Corporation and it will be flown onboard a

Falcon 9

rocket in the first quarter of 2022.

"We're excited to launch DOGE-1 to the Moon!" said Tom Ochinero, vice president of commercial sales at SpaceX.

As Tesla CEO Elon Musk hosted the Saturday Night Live show on TV last weekend, Dogecoin which is fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market value and promoted by

Musk

fell sharply.

Trading platform Robinhood also crashed for cryptocurrency users. After vouching for Bitcoin, Tesla CEO Elon Musk now supports Dogecoin cryptocurrency, even calling him "Dogefather".

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency invented by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who decided to create a payment system. Nearly 113 billion coins have already been mined.

Amid the surge in Bitcoin and Ether cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin has surged more than 659 per cent this year.

Tesla recently announced it has invested $1.5 billion in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.