With prospects of intergalactic tourism within reach, PayPal is proposing "space currency" that will allow explorers to pay for their space-station doughnut.
PayPal Galactic is looking into the future, in hopes of creating a payment method not of this planet. The company, along with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, will release an official announcement on Thursday, ABC News reported.
"We quietly asked ourselves and other leaders in the space community, 'Are we smoking crack?'" Anuj Nayar, the senior director of public relations for PayPal told ABC.
Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and the Space Tourism Society (STS) appreciate PayPal thinking about these details ahead of time.
"We're in a space renaissance right now," John Spencer, founder of the STS said.
PayPal's timing couldn't be better, a number of companies have ambitious plans for space tourism aimed at the near future. This Christmas, Virgin Galactic plans on launching a commercial space flight. Plans are also underway for a space hotel from Orbital Technologies, which hopes to begin business in 2016.
The Dutch company Mars One wants to push the boundaries even further, they aim to have a colony on Mars as soon as 2023. Since companies from so many different nations are interested in commercial space venues, a common currency would be necessary.
"From our point of view, it's an interesting exercise to see how you would create a commercial system if you were free from all the existing old-wall infrastructure," Nayar said.
Paypal knows gaining cooperation from every space-aimed company will be difficult, but they won't let this stop them from looking for a solution to intergalactic exchange.
"We're not saying that PayPal has the answer, but it's important for the industry to ask questions," Nayar said.
Nayar said there are no plans for installing ATMs in space.
"Could you even imagine a space shuttle just for bringing up bank notes?" he said.
"We're everywhere on Earth, now we're aiming for the final frontier," PayPal Galactic's website stated.
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