Celestia launches its high-speed mamo-1 testnet with 128MB blocks

Modular blockchain Celestia has launched a new testnet, mamo-1, designed to push the network’s scalability to new extremes ahead of future mainnet upgrades.

According to an Apr. 14 announcement on Celestia’s ( TIA ) blog, mamo-1 is designed to support very high data throughput, up to 128MB blocks every six seconds, or 21.33MB per second. That’s more than 16 times higher than what Celestia’s mainnet currently handles. The new testnet is meant to simulate real-world conditions for apps that need to process large amounts of data. 

The testnet follows a smaller prototype called Mammoth Mini, which reached 27MB/s in lab tests. But unlike that devnet, mamo-1 is open to the public and connects with Celestia’s full data availability layer, including support for light nodes and data availability sampling. It is supported by 21 validators located in Amsterdam, Paris, and Warsaw to reflect realistic network behavior.

The upgrade is powered in part by a new data transfer protocol called Vacuum!, which improves how data moves across the network. Instead of flooding the network with data, nodes only send it to peers who request it. This helps reduce unnecessary traffic and makes the system faster and more efficient.

Vacuum! also uses something called Validator Availability Certificates, so nodes can announce which data they’re holding. Even if full data isn’t available from a single source, Vacuum! features a new recovery method that helps validators rebuild missing parts of a block using backup data.

Celestia says this technology brings them closer to a future where the network can handle 1GB blocks. Since its October 2023 mainnet launch , more than 20 rollups have deployed on Celestia, including Eclipse, Movement Labs ( MOVE ), and Dymension. Still, competition from rival data availability networks like EigenDA and Avail could challenge its lead.

Even with the new testnet, Celestia’s token TIA hasn’t moved much. It’s trading at $2.52, down 30% this month and 88% below its $20.85 all-time high in February. According to an Apr. 10 Nansen report , developer interest in the platform remains quite high despite the price drop, raising conviction of future price recovery.