The US government has given the green light to SpaceX’s Doge-1 lunar mission, which is funded by the Dogecoin (DOGE) cryptocurrency and is in the final stages of launch preparations. This step brings the launch of the DOGE-1 mission closer to reality.

Space technology company Geometric Energy Corporation is currently developing the DOGE-1 satellite, which will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The satellite will be equipped with a miniature screen that will display advertising materials, images and logos to be broadcast. to the Earth. DOGE-1 will be a historic research mission fully funded by DOGE.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk first announced that DOGE-1 would be launched in 2021 as a joint mission with Intuitive Machines and the US space program NASA, but due to delays in various stages of preparations, the planned date was postponed to January 2024. The DOGE-1 mission requires licensing from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) before its eventual launch to the Moon.

DOGE-1 is one of two Dogecoin-related missions planned for the coming months. In a separate initiative, Dogecoin developers announced the launch of a space payload from the mission of Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh-based company. This launch, during which Dogecoin’s “physical token” could reach the moon, is planned for December 23.

Expectations regarding DOGE’s upcoming lunar mission have caused a significant increase in its value, topping $0.08 last week. At the same time, the number of addresses where DOGE is stored exceeded 5 million for the first time, indicating the growing popularity of this cryptocurrency and the increase in the number of users trading with it.