NASA put up a job advertisement on September 20, 2019, stating that they are offering “an exciting opportunity for a Data Scientist I” to join their team. Along with a bunch of qualification skills, they have particularly mentioned that they will consider the candidate having “experience with cryptocurrency and Blockchain” a plus.
They will give the candidate a chance to contribute in conceptualizing and developing “innovative applications for cross-cutting areas of the laboratory including robotics, artificial intelligence, multi-mission systems, mission assurance, cloud computing, next-generation flight hardware, and intelligent digital assistants”.
The chosen candidate will be a part of NASA’s team of data scientists and innovation experts that make up JPL’s Innovation Experience Center (IEC) in the Office of the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer.
The Data Scientist will be responsible for designing and implementing a program for analyzing complex, large-scale data sets used for modeling, data mining, research, and predictive analysis purposes. This will include creativity, tenacity, curiosity, and deep technical skills. The Data Scientist will use skills in data gathering and data “munging”, visualization, machine learning, and computer programming to make data driven decisions and data driven products, and will give exciting presentations where the data paints a compelling future. The Data Scientist will work with several JPL missions to enable them to fully benefit from cloud computing, analytics, cyber security, and more – NASA
NASA’s steps toward blockchain
NASA has been trying to include blockchain in their technology for a long time.
A Hard Fork January report mentioned that NASA was exploring potential use-cases for blockchain tech in hopes of safeguarding the privacy and security of aircraft flight data. At the same time, a research paper was also published exploring the possibility of using the blockchain tech to overcome security issues.
According to a report, NASA also announced a new grant in April 2018. The grant aimed to support the development of an autonomous spacecraft, which could make decisions using blockchain technology withouts human intervention.
