The first version of Cryptosat’s Cryptosim Software has been made available. Cryptosat is a startup company that is developing a Trusted Execution Environment in space. Combining an application programming interface (API) tutorial with a satellite trajectory simulator, Cryptosim was developed with developers in mind. This will give software developers the opportunity to practice interacting with the software that will be running on Cryptosat’s low earth orbit (LEO) satellites once the satellites are in space.
The tamper-proof root-of-trust that Cryptosat provides is accomplished through the launch of LEO satellites, which completely isolate each device. Comparing running code on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to running code on an orbiting spacecraft reveals major differences. To help developers get up to speed more quickly, Cryptosim plans to guide them step-by-step through the process of communicating with software that has been put on the satellite.
The user interface of the simulator contains both a lesson that explains the API calls that are supported by Cryptosat as well as a map that displays the satellite’s path through space. In addition, a JavaScript console allows users to programmatically test the API and interact with the simulated satellite in various ways, including requesting the satellite’s status, signing messages, requesting randomness, generating Delay-Encryption key-pairs, and more.
Features Of The Current Build Of Cryptosim
The Cryptosim API educates software developers on the asynchronous operation of satellite software. Since satellites are not always visible from ground stations, it was necessary to construct them in this fashion so that they could still function properly. The following is a list of functions that can be called using the most recent build of Cryptosim:
- Public randomness (Random Beacon)
- Private randomness: where a user requests random bits to be encrypted to a public key they provide in the request
- Retrieving a signed timestamp: used by applications that require a trusted source of time or smart contracts that need to ensure a certain amount of time has passed in the real world
- Delay encryption: where a satellite generates a cryptographic key-pair and publishes the public key. The private key is not released before a specified amount of time has passed, preventing premature decryption
- Data signing: Signing any data in space
Developers are encouraged to test out Cryptosat’s API and become familiar with the capabilities of the company’s LEO satellites. The company is inviting blockchain teams to offer new use cases for its product, in addition to the various applications that have already been envisioned for the product.
Powering Blockchain & Cryptographic Protocols With Satellites
The blockchain and other cryptographic protocols are powered by satellites that Cryptosat constructs and launches. Satellites are able to function as the most secure root-of-trust since they are physically inaccessible and can guarantee the confidentiality and integrity of critical calculations and data. These tamper-proof satellites have the potential to serve a wide variety of use cases, such as transaction signing, trusted setups for cryptographic algorithms, a randomness oracle, a time-oracle (VDF), and many more.
Cryptosat is able to provide a guarantee that the computing environment was not tampered with by a third party prior to it being deployed into orbit since it uses its own satellites, which it has constructed from the ground up. This provides a unique guarantee that the operations that are carried out aboard the satellite cannot be tampered with by any parties, not even nation-state actors. The members of the Cryptosat team have experience in aerospace engineering, applied security, and cryptography.
Yonatan Winetraub and Yan Michalevsky are both Stanford Ph.D. alumni and are second-time founding members of the company. They published the SpaceTEE paper in 2018, which was the first to offer the concept of making use of small satellites for the purpose of securing critical cryptographic processes and protocols. In May of 2022, they were successful in placing their first satellite, known as Crypto1, into orbit. An experiment carried out by the team aboard the International Space Station was successfully concluded in March of 2022.
