At DePIN Day Buenos Aires, Stefaan Vervaet from Akave shared a concrete example of how decentralized physical infrastructure at the edge can seamlessly connect with decentralized infrastructure at the core. His talk focused on a real-world case study from astronomy, showing how community-owned devices, cryptographic verification, and decentralized storage can combine into a single operational system.
Rather than discussing DePIN in abstract terms, the presentation explored how decentralized networks can already support critical, data-intensive use cases — ranging from space observation to defense and education.
Astronomy Is No Longer Just for Experts
Astronomy is undergoing a fundamental shift. With the emergence of smart telescopes equipped with APIs, space observation is no longer limited to large institutions or professional observatories. Since around 2019, individuals have been able to purchase consumer-grade telescopes capable of automatically locating planets, satellites, comets, and other transient objects.
This change has fueled a new wave of citizen science, where thousands of people around the world actively contribute observations. Over the past few years alone, community members have already completed more than 10,000 space observations, tracking planets, satellites, debris, and even accidentally discovering classified or unknown objects.
The Collaboration Problem in Space Observation
Despite this growing participation, a major challenge remains. Large telescopes and professional observation systems often collaborate scientifically, but they lack a shared orchestration and incentive layer. There is no unified way to coordinate observations, verify data integrity, or economically reward contributors across organizations.
To address this gap, Skymapper was created — a DePIN-powered network of telescopes and cameras designed to observe the sky collaboratively and permissionlessly.
Why Space Observation Is Becoming Mission-Critical
The need for better observation infrastructure has grown rapidly. Space activity is accelerating due to commercial satellites, defense requirements, and increasing congestion in Earth’s orbit. Surprisingly, many satellite operators still lack real-time, precise data about their own assets.
Today, satellite companies often rely on government-run observation systems that provide slow, aggregated updates. Orbit corrections can take days or even weeks, making collision avoidance and precise positioning difficult.
Skymapper changes this dynamic by enabling near real-time observations. With as few as three telescopes positioned strategically around the globe, the network can accurately calculate satellite orbits and deliver actionable data far faster than traditional systems.
Expanding into Drone Surveillance
What started as an astronomy network has expanded into broader observation use cases. Skymapper’s architecture is now being adapted into Sky Sphere, a system designed to track drones and fast-moving aerial objects.
With drones evolving rapidly, often faster than centralized defense systems can adapt, a decentralized, community-powered observation layer offers a scalable alternative. The same principles used to observe satellites and comets can be applied to monitoring airspace closer to Earth.
Proof of Space Observability and Data Integrity
A key innovation behind Skymapper is what Stefaan described as Proof of Space Observability. Each telescope proves its physical location and legitimacy by responding to randomized observation challenges based on celestial constellations.
Because constellations are fixed while the Earth rotates, the system can verify that a device is truly observing from a specific location at a specific time. Observations are encrypted, metadata is stored on-chain, and the full datasets are persisted using Akave’s decentralized storage layer.
This approach ensures:
- Observations cannot be tampered with
- The origin of data is verifiable
- Integrity is preserved end to end
These properties are essential not only for scientific research, but also for commercial and governmental use cases where trust and accuracy are critical.
From Raw Data to Insights
Skymapper is not just about storing raw imagery. Multiple observations from different locations are combined and analyzed to extract higher-level insights such as object trajectories, speed and orbital patterns.
These processed datasets are valuable to satellite operators, defense organizations, researchers, and educational institutions. Universities and students can now access live observation sessions across time zones, enabling astronomy education at any time of day by connecting to telescopes in darker regions of the world.
A Real DePIN Stack in Production
What makes Sky Mapper notable is that it represents a fully operational DePIN stack:
- Edge devices: community-owned telescopes and cameras
- On-chain verification: cryptographic proofs of location and integrity
- Decentralized storage: Akave storing large observational datasets
- Open access: public explorers and APIs for scientific collaboration
All observations are currently public, contributing to the global scientific community, while commercial applications are actively being developed on top of the same infrastructure.
Why This Case Study Matters for DePIN
Stefaan’s presentation demonstrated that DePIN is already enabling networks that were previously impossible to coordinate centrally. By combining incentive design, cryptographic guarantees, and decentralized storage, Sky Mapper shows how DePIN can unlock new markets where trust, transparency, and scalability are non-negotiable.
From space observation to drone surveillance, this model illustrates how decentralized infrastructure can deliver real-world value far beyond crypto-native use cases.
