Musk is at it again: Dogecoin to the Moon mission launching in December—joke or for real this time?

Musk is stirring things up again.

On November 4, the tech maverick dropped a simple “The time has come” on social media and casually dug up his 2021 post saying, “SpaceX will put a real Dogecoin on the real moon.” This move instantly set the crypto community abuzz—is the DOGE-1 lunar mission really happening this time?

A Joke From Four Years Ago, Now Becoming Reality

Let’s rewind to April 2021. After Musk posted about Dogecoin going to the moon, DOGE’s price soared nearly 30% within minutes. Everyone thought he was joking again, but a few weeks later, SpaceX made it official: they were really launching the “DOGE-1 Lunar Mission,” and the whole thing would be paid for with Dogecoin.

The project is led by Canadian company Geometric Energy Corporation. In plain terms, it’s a CubeSat mini-satellite scheduled to be launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. Sounds pretty sci-fi, right? But the US Federal Communications Commission has already issued the license, and the documents are clear: the license is valid until October 30, 2025, or two years after the mission starts.

If it really happens, this will be the first space mission in history fully paid for with cryptocurrency.

Why Isn’t the Market Going Crazy This Time?

Interestingly, the ingredients are the same, but the flavor has changed.

Back in 2021, one Musk tweet sent DOGE soaring by 30%. This time? The price squeezed up from $0.172 to $0.178, then… nothing. As soon as overall market selling pressure hit, it dropped right back.

Have investors gotten smarter? Or are they just tired?

Maybe it’s both. Four years on, people are used to all kinds of “pump” tweets and empty promises. Trying to rally the market with just a sentence? Not so easy. Now, Bitcoin has fallen below $106,000, Ethereum can’t hold $3,600, and the market is under huge pressure. Who has the energy to chase hype in this environment?

More importantly: people are starting to look at the project itself. It’s no longer “whatever Musk says goes,” but rather, “Is this really reliable?”

From Meme to Real-world Use—Can DOGE Make the Leap?

To be honest, if the DOGE-1 mission really gets off the ground, its significance goes beyond just “Dogecoin goes to the moon.”

This satellite isn’t just for show; it’ll be used for Earth observation and IoT data transmission. In other words, Dogecoin could actually become part of a real-world value chain. Tom Ochinero, SpaceX VP of Commercial Sales, once said, “DOGE-1 will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce.”

Interplanetary commerce? Sounds far-fetched, but at least it’s the right direction—turning cryptocurrency from pure speculation into something genuinely useful.

And this time is different. In 2021, everyone thought it was just another one of Musk’s “space rants.” But now the technical review has passed, the mission process is complete, and the launch window is set for December 2025. Everything is moving forward as planned.

December: The Moment of Truth

Now all eyes are on this December.

This isn’t just another rocket launch—it’s a major test for crypto’s application in the real world. If it succeeds, Dogecoin could finally shake off its “meme coin” label; if it fails, it’ll likely be chaos all over again.

Will Musk bail again this time? Can SpaceX successfully launch the satellite? Will Dogecoin’s price see another massive rally?

All the answers will be revealed in just a few months.