phoenicianrockets

yes and no.

Do they do secret launches into space? No. Stealth in space is almost impossible.

However, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO, the spysat folks) do play games with their sats, move them around and even seem to have sats which release smaller ones. What are they doing? That's secret.

Likewise, the US Air Force has the X-37. its an unmanned, reusable space shuttle. It moves from orbit to orbit and can stay up for long periods. What is it doing? That's secret, too.

I'd be very interested in doing a bitcoin funded or themed challenge. If there's a sponsor willing to come forward, I'd be happy to attempt it.

As for Mars, the internet won't reach unless we build a node. You need the USN or DSN (deep space network).

The GLXP missions are one way. Its more than twice as hard to come back technology wise.

Unfortunately, the landers are not likely to survive the lunar night (they /may/) but it'll be brutal. Yutu has been having a hard time of it and their budget is quite large.

Its entirely possible.

I would actually aim for placing one in orbit. Btcoin seems to be very business oriented. Why not a cubesat competition for bitcoin which must be funded (and gets bonus points for utilizing in the business) by bitcoin?

With the current technology, around 9 months.