A Space Race to Activate Mainnet Rewards
TL;DR
Phase 1 - Launchpad (tentative 2024-11-06)
- Foundation launches the network and infrastructure on a launch party call.
- Data seeding commences.
- Farmers can join the network and plot but not produce blocks.
Phase 2 - Lift-off (tentative 2024-11-13)
- Data seeding is complete.
- Initial and target solution ranges are set.
- Block authorship is enabled.
- The Space Race starts.
Phase 3 - Escape Velocity (unknown)
- Space Race target is reached.
- Ad-hoc, async community event.
- Mainnet rewards activated!
Differences Between Testnet and Mainnet
There are a couple of differences we wanted to highlight before we continue. Those who have used the Astral Rewards Checker will already know that our mainnet token symbol is AI3. This is a change to the tSSC our farmers have got used to seeing on the testnet.
Mainnet wallets have a different prefix to our testnets. The same seed that provided a wallet starting st will resolve to an address starting with su on mainnet. This is evident now on our Taurus testnet.
You can use the tool at ss58.org to see how a single Substrate SS58 address can be represented multiple ways depending on the network. Subspace testnet is prefix 2254. Taurus testnet and Autonomys mainnet is prefix 6094. Either wallet format will work with our software and point to the same account.
For a deeper dive on SS58 accounts: Substrate Wallet Guide
What is a Space Race?
The Space Race is a pivotal event marking the live launch of the Autonomys Network mainnet. As you are likely aware, our Proof-of-Archival-Storage (PoAS) consensus gets stronger as the total amount of plotted space on the network increases.
Launching our mainnet is a tricky business and the network could be vulnerable to attack during the cold start situation it presents us with. This challenge will be overcome with the Space Race. It is designed to establish secure, decentralized consensus across the network before rewards are activated. Farmers will play a crucial role in this process by contributing storage and computational resources to help bootstrap the network during its most critical period. Unlike previous testnets, this is the live environment where every action contributes directly to the success of the mainnet.
The Space Race will be a global, community-driven effort, with farmers racing collectively and collaboratively to achieve the target amount of space pledged. The entire network’s health, stability, and future scalability rely on achieving successful consensus, and our farmer community’s contributions ensure that the Autonomys blockchain is secured by real, decentralized participation.
What are the Phases of the Space Race?
Our mainnet Space Race will follow the same pattern as the Mini, Nano and Micro Space Races that came before it. Why change a winning formula? It will have three distinct phases:
Phase 1 - Launchpad
- The mainnet chainspec will be built but no-one will be able to get started on the new network just yet.
- Mainnet binaries will be built and the links shared with our community.
- Along with start commands.
- There will be a proof of time seed ceremony using a particular Bitcoin block height to inject randomness into the Proof-of-Time feature which protects the protocol from long range attacks by forcing malicious actors to expend an equivalent amount of time rather than just compute or storage. This is very important and if you want to read more on how PoT works under the hood please check out our excellent Autonomys Academy resource.
- Everyone will be able to download and prepare the software, but they will have to wait for the PoT seed to be determined. Once it is available, farmers can provide it to their nodes specified as a CLI option.
- At some point after the seed ceremony, the mainnet chainspec will be updated so that the PoT seed no longer has to be provided on the command line.
- The Subspace Foundation will bring the necessary infrastructure up to establish mainnet.
- The network will start with a genesis farmer once we have the PoT seed. This sole farmer will be run by the foundation and allows us to add seed data to the network. The seed data will be made up of the Genesis Data Contest entries and will form the initial blockchain history. Those of you reading who have been with us through testnet phases will understand the relationship between blockchain history growth and replotting. Our aim here is to hit a balance between acceptable initial sync times and sensible replotting schedules. Remember replotting is how new data enters the network and is core to the protocol.
- At this point farmers will be able to sync their nodes but farming will not yet be enabled for anyone but the genesis farmer. Plotting will be subject to constant replotting as the seed data continuously grows the blockchain history and triggers sector expiry. We don’t know exactly how long the seeding will take but we do invite altruistic farmers to start plotting as it will help the health of the network when we hit the next phase. Building plots this early will require a lot of replotting but, while painful, is the optimal way to approach the new network from a maximum space plotted perspective.
- Essentially, farmers will have a head start if they join us on the bumpy road while we are seeding the data.
- And while on the subject of altruistic farmers we would love to see those who are able to do so running timekeepers on mainnet. This is not currently incentivized but you would hold a special place in our hearts and minds if you can spare a fast core for the health of the network.
- I would like to make an extra special appeal for timekeepers - especially those who have access to the fastest cores available on the market and can spare us one. Starting a timekeeper with the network genesis is our ideal scenario. If anyone wants help doing this please reach out to us in Discord - we will be very grateful.
Phase 2 - Lift-off
- This is the start of our Space Race. After the seed data has been uploaded a target amount of storage pledged will be announced. We expect this will be 1 week after Phase 1.
- There will be a community event planned to kick phase 2 off in which we will:
- Set an initial and target solution ranges.
- Enable block authoring by any farmer.
- At this point it will make sense for any farmer who has not already done so to start plotting as fast as their rigs will allow them to. Remember that having the first sectors plotted on mainnet is a great opportunity to earn rewards at the top of our issuance curve.
- We will all be watching the space pledged growing anxiously as it gets us closer and closer to…
Phase 3 - Escape Velocity
- More of an event than a phase.
- For those of you who experienced the Ethereum merge when the network transitioned from PoW to PoS there will be a familiar vibe to this phase.
- As the community will be responsible for hitting the target space pledged we will not be able to accurately specify a time up-front for when we reach escape velocity. It could happen at any point in time and at any time of day.
- We’ll all be watching our excellent plot-o-meters for updates on the progress towards our goal and as we approach the final few TiBs and GiBs there will be another, async community event in Discord where we hope as many of you as possible will join us for the final countdown.
- Once we hit the specified space pledged, which we calculate by measuring the solution range, rewards will automatically be activated and farmers will start to see AI3 accruing in their accounts.
- The Space Race is over!
Summary
The Space Race is an essential event for the live launch of the Autonomys Network mainnet. It consists of three phases: Launchpad, Lift-off, and Escape Velocity, with farmers playing a pivotal role in each stage to secure consensus and achieve network stability. By participating in the Space Race, farmers will not only contribute to the decentralization and security of the network but will also be among the first to receive rewards for their efforts.
This is what we have all been waiting for! The tension is palpable as we home in on completion of our last few TODOs before being ready for MAINNET PHASE-1 LAUNCH! Onwards, Autonauts! It is time to start populating the new frontier that lays before us!
Stay tuned to our announcement channels for further details on how to join the Space Race and ensure your nodes are ready!