SERA Mission Control: Seat in Space

A seat on a spaceship usually costs a fortune and goes to a handful of people. SERA Mission Control tries a different route: community votes and points decide who gets a place. It all runs inside Telegram, so there is nothing to install 🚀

The SERA program is built around suborbital flights on the New Shepard rocket, with launches provided by Blue Origin. SERA has reserved six seats on an upcoming mission.

Six seats, two kinds of race

Five seats belong to partner nations: India, Nigeria, Indonesia, Brazil and Thailand. The sixth seat is open to a person from any country that is not under US sanctions.

Live in one of the five countries and you compete mostly against your compatriots. Live elsewhere and you go for the global seat against candidates from around the planet.

SpaceDust, the points that count

Points in the app are called SpaceDust. You earn them by completing tasks and by growing a community around a candidate. More SpaceDust means a higher spot on the leaderboard.

A high ranking gives a candidate the chance to earn the community's vote, and votes are what pick the astronaut. So the winner is the person people want to back.

• Tasks. Finish them in the app and collect SpaceDust.
• Community. Friends you bring in and active supporters push a ranking up too.
• Leaderboard. Shows who leads in your group right now.
• Voting. Runs on TON blockchain infrastructure, so results can be checked.

You do not have to fly to play

Supporters have a role as well. Pick a candidate, vote, and help them climb. No training and no space background required 🛰

There is a science side, too. Through the SERA Science platform people submit research ideas for the mission and vote on them. The community chooses the experiments that go on board, along with the astronauts.

Getting started in five steps

1. Open the app in Telegram and press start.
2. Create a profile. It gives you a personal SERA Space ID.
3. Choose a role: candidate or supporter.
4. Complete tasks and collect SpaceDust.
5. Watch your rank and the votes on the leaderboard.

Registration in the app is free. The SERA team publishes detailed conditions and answers to common questions in its own channel and chat.

Where the catch is

First, spaceflight rarely keeps to a schedule. Launch dates depend on the launch company, weather, hardware and regulators, and delays of months are common. Expect the outcome to take a while.

Second, the odds are small. There are six seats and a very large crowd of participants, so treat the app as an interesting contest, since nobody is guaranteed a ticket.

Third, anything involving wallets and blockchain attracts scammers. Never share your wallet recovery phrase, ignore links from private messages, and do not pay for a better place in line. Honest tasks never ask for access to your money ⚠️

Who will enjoy this

People who love space and want to feel part of a real flight program. Students who like the research side. And anyone who enjoys a competition with a leaderboard.

If you need a quick payoff, a contest of this size is the wrong place to look. If the process itself is fun, jump in and play.