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From "I Saw It" to "We Can Prove It"
Traditional astronomy relies on trust in institutions and instruments. A single observatory publishes a single result. Others either reproduce it or take the data on faith. That model breaks when observations come from a global network of community telescopes all observing and validating the observations from different angles and locations.
SkyMapper's network includes telescopes around the world placed in strategic locations, all connected to a single orchestration network. A transient captured in Chile might also be visible from New Zealand and Hawaii. A satellite crossing a frame in Los Angeles can be seen again minutes later from Europe. That redundancy is powerful only if the underlying data is consistent, tamper-proof, and traceable.
Community-powered observation flips the credibility model. Geographic coverage drives precision: more angles on the same event means better data. Every new node, whether on a university rooftop or a dedicated SkySphere mount, strengthens the whole system. Verification becomes infrastructure-level, not solely dependent on institutional reputation. Professional astronomers, citizen scientists, and researchers can all reference the same blockchain-anchored metadata alongside the raw observations.
Akave makes that redundancy count. Every frame that leaves a SkyMapper device is written into decentralized storage with cryptographic provenance: where it came from, when it was captured, and that it has not been altered. "Someone uploaded this" becomes "this is the exact image that telescope recorded at that time, with immutable metadata to prove it."
How the Joint System Works
At the core, Skymapper runs SkyQueue, an automation and orchestration layer that keeps telescopes productive all night:
- Checks which telescopes are on-sky
- Selects targets from transient alerts, satellite passes, and comet ephemerides
- Schedules observations and records image sequences
- Pushes data through AI models that classify what was seen
Once observations are ready to store, Akave takes over:
- SkyMapper devices send data through an S3-compatible endpoint.
- Akave encrypts and shards the data using RS(32,16) Reed–Solomon erasure coding (32 data fragments, 16 parity fragments).
- Shards are stored across a decentralized network of nodes. Verification metadata and erasure set commitments are written onchain so any reader can prove integrity without moving the raw images.
The comet data pipeline shows this in practice. Frames captured are instantly tracked onchain and available in Akave after uploads by the telescopes. Extra insights are processed every 20 minutes by the analytics engine (e.g. comet trajectory,...) .
Why Decentralized Storage Fits a Decentralized Sky
SkyMapper's architecture is distributed by design. Telescopes sit on rooftops, observatories, and dedicated SkySphere mounts around the world. Each new node strengthens the network's coverage and resilience.
Centralized storage would collapse that model. It reintroduces the bottlenecks SkyMapper is intentionally avoiding:
- Potential censorship attempts
- One institution becomes gatekeeper for access
- One failure domain can take the archive offline
- One security perimeter becomes the only line of defense
Centralized systems lack the trust guarantees distributed science requires. Fixed schedules and bureaucratic control slow response times. Access gets restricted by subscription fees or institutional politics. Data in a single database is vulnerable to alteration, and authenticity disputes become impossible to resolve.
Akave mirrors SkyMapper's topology at the storage layer. Observations go into verifiable object storage with no single point of failure. SkyMapper's Proof of Spatial Observation (PoSO) verifies that each submission comes from a validated location, time, and sensor source. False coordinates, duplicates, and synthetic imagery are rejected at this validation stage. Akave then stores the verified data immutably, extending the chain of proof into the storage layer.
More coverage leads to higher accuracy, which drives more data demand, which funds more node deployments. Educators in one region, researchers in another, and SkyMapper's own pipelines all read from the same cryptographically proven data set. Not a fragile cluster behind one organization's firewall.
What Changes for Astronomers and Educators
For astronomers working on orbit determination and transient follow-up:
- Satellite detections derived from SkyMapper astrometry come with a clear chain back to the raw frames
- Multi-station observations can be combined without debating whose copy of the data is authoritative
- Re-analysis years later starts from the original pixels, not a compressed export passed around in archives
For educators running Skymapper sessions in classrooms:
- Students can compare their own observations against the network record and see how their local sky fits into the global picture
- Instructors point classes to a durable, verified archive instead of managing local storage
- Satellite companies can track their satellite orbits with realtime updates
For the Skymapper team:
- Operational focus shifts from "keep disks alive" to "keep telescopes on-sky"
- Audit trails for firsts – first satellite orbit from the network, first comet pipeline, first bot-posted result – are backed by storage that can prove each claim
Benefits of the Integration
Verifiable Observations
Every stored frame has cryptographic provenance. When a SkyMapper telescope contributes to a published orbit or transient discovery, the underlying data is defensible.
Real-Time Response That Persists
The network already responds to events in under two minutes, and SkySphere cameras routinely capture frames in 100 ms. Writing into Akave means those real-time captures do not live only in local buffers. They become part of a durable record almost as quickly as they are taken.
Durability Aligned with the Science
A once-per-lifetime comet appearance or a meteor trail at 3:47 AM cannot be reshot. Akave's 11 9s durability and RS(32,16) erasure coding align with that reality. The data is treated as irreplaceable from the moment it arrives.
Shared Access Without a Single Gatekeeper
Because observations are stored in a decentralized network rather than one institution's servers, access can be tuned to the community SkyMapper is building. Researchers, educators, and citizen scientists read from the same verified data without having to route through a central IT team.
Quotes
“SkyMapper is creating one of the most important observational datasets of our time. Akave anchors that data onchain, preserves it immutably, and does so at a cost low enough to make global-scale astronomy economically viable from scientific to commercial buyers.”
- Stefaan Vervaet, CEO, Akave
Blockchain and web3 technologies are foundational to SkyMapper's mission of democratizing astronomy and ensuring scientific data integrity through immutable, tamper-proof storage and universal accessibility. Like the early internet, web3 combines innovation with speculation, but represents a fundamental shift toward open, verifiable, collaborative scientific infrastructure. We’re proud that SkyMapper is teaming up with Akave to lead the transformation of astronomical research.
- Franck Marchis, CEO, Skymapper
About the Companies
SkyMapper is building the world's first decentralized, real-time telescope network. The beta includes 100s of telescopes and SkySphere all-sky cameras deploying globally via SkyBridge devices. SkyQueue automation processes transients, satellites, and comets with AI classification. SkyChain provides Proof-of-Space-Observation for blockchain anchoring. The mission: transform the sky into a shared observatory accessible to everyone.
Akave Cloud is an enterprise-grade, decentralized object storage platform for verifiable, compliant, and cost-efficient data retention. It provides a fully S3-compatible interface, an immutable ledger for auditability, erasure-coded redundancy, and client-side encryption. The O3 gateway enables deployment anywhere while maintaining sovereignty, verifiability, and interoperability with existing tools.