Ever tried to buy something, only to realize your wallet is sitting on your kitchen counter a billion miles away on another planet? No need to worry. PayPal has decided now is the perfect time to address that very serious problem. The online payment service is joining forces with the SETI Institute, a leader in the search for alien life in the universe, to create PayPal Galactic, a money transfer system that boldly goes where no money transfer system has gone before.

PayPal’s president David Marcus announced the initiative in a company blog post yesterday. He outlined a series of questions related to the commercialization of space and expressed his interest in making PayPal the first to address them and provide a way for people to pay from off-world. Lest we think this is premature, Marcus pointed out in his announcement that current astronauts on space stations need to pay their bills and download music and eBooks like the rest of us. Space tourists and commercial astronauts will also need a way to spend money, so PayPal might be stepping up right on time.

A live stream hosted by the SETI Institute took place today, featuring Marcus, SETI scientists Frank Drake and Margaret Race, Space Tourism Society founder John Spencer, and Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin. “PayPal is the favorite way to pay on Earth, and we want to make sure it is the favorite way to pay in space,” said Marcus during the event.

Neither Drake nor Race had much to say during the presentation about the specifics of PayPal’s role in the future of space travel, but thankfully John Spencer made enough out-there promises to make it interesting. “There will be orbital cruise lines, there will be orbital super-yachting and lunar yachting,” he said. “There will be races on the moon. And therefore, there will be a need for a lot more people of diverse backgrounds going off-world. And they will need PayPal Galactic to pay for services and goods.” I don’t know what orbital super-yachting is exactly, but he needs to get working on it, because it sounds amazing and it’s embarrassing that we’re going to have PayPal in space before we have orbital super-yachting.

Though he didn’t seem to have much to do with the initiative, Aldrin was his usual awesome self, whipping out a “I’m theRealBuzz” T-shirt to advertise his Twitter, shamelessly promoting his book and a potential TV series based on it, and then soberly talking about his heartfelt desire to see a permanent human presence on Mars in his lifetime. He eventually got around to acknowledging PayPal Galactic. “Whether it’s paying a bill or even helping a family member on Earth, we’ll need access to money,” the veteran astronaut said.

It takes between four and 24 minutes or so for transmissions to get from Mars to Earth, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up about winning any eBay auctions at the last second from another planet. On the flip side, if you’re an eBay seller and you see a PayPal Galactic user making bids, don’t offer free shipping unless you want to be on the hook for paying thousands of dollars per pound to launch your old lava lamp to someone’s orbital space yacht, assuming those get made while eBay is still a thing.




http://www.geekosystem.com/paypal-galactic/

PayPal believes that space is the future of commerce, and PayPal wants first dibs. On Thursday, the e-payment service announced PayPal Galactic, a initiative to figure out how to get future space travellers to use PayPal from space.

"Space tourism is opening up to all of us in the next decade or so," PayPal's president David Marcus said in a promotional video. "We want to make sure that PayPal is the preferred way to pay from space and in space."

PayPal has teamed up with the SETI Institute and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin to create a new payment system that will work in outer space.

The project raises valid questions: Would space tourists staying a space hotel have to bring cash with them (increasing a rocket ship's payload)? How will they communicate with banks and financial institutions on Earth?

"The dawn of commercial space flight is upon us," Buzz Aldrin said at Thursday's press conference. "It's not unrealistic to predict that we're only a generation away from a permanent human presence on Mars."

That "decade or so" that Marcus believes it will take for us regular folks get to hang out in space may be a bit ambitious. Space travel isn't cheap. There are very few space tourists, most likely because private flights into space cost tens of millions of dollars. Canadian entrepreneur Guy Laliberte paid $40 million for an 11 day trip into space in 2009. As of 2013, only 7 non-astronauts have ever traveled to space, and all of them were billionaires.

That aforementioned "space hotel," by the way, is slated to open in 2016.

now i can plan ahead for this lil dream of mine!

7 Proposed Spaceships Of The Future


Bloon - Zero2Infinity's Balloon
The bloon, a helium-filled balloon, will take a capsule with as many as six people to 118,000 feet -- not quite outer space, but near space. The company expects to make its first commercial flight in 2013.

NASA
NASA announced in September that it's developing the Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will one day take humans farther than ever before.

The 34-story rocket will carry six astronauts aboard the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.

According to PC Mag, NASA will spend $18 billion over the next five years developing the SLS.

With the retirement of the space shuttle program, NASA currently pays Russia around $60 million per person to get American astronauts into space.

Remember, there's still time to apply to be an astronaut.

Virgin Galactic
Over 450 "astronauts" have already booked a $200,000 spot on Sir Richard Branson's SpaceShipTwo, a craft that will take passengers to an altitude of 110 km (68.3 miles).

Branson hopes to begin commercial flights in 2013, but that date could get pushed back.

"We want to be sure we've really tested the craft through and through before turning it over to the astronauts who bought tickets to go up," he said in October, according to the Associated Press. "If it takes a bit longer, we'll take a little bit longer."

Passengers will experience about five minutes of weighlessness during the 2 1/2 hour sub-orbital spaceflight.

SpaceX

In December 2010, SpaceX became the first private company to have a spacecraft re-enter orbit, when its Dragon spacecraft orbited earth twice and then landed in the Pacific Ocean.

Next stop? The International Space Station. A representative from SpaceX told HuffPost that a Dragon capsule carrying supplies to the ISS will launch in early 2012. It will be the first commercial company to berth a spacecraft with the space station.

But you're going to have to be a NASA astronaut to hitch a ride to space with SpaceX, as the company doesn't have any plans in the near future for space tourism.

Space Adventures/Armadillo Aerospace

Space Adventures, a company that has sent seven private citizens to the International Space Station, announced in 2010 that it would partner with Armadillo Aerospace to provide suborbital spaceflights.

The two-passenger rocket will land and take-off vertically and allow for a 360-degree view of the earth below.

According to Jaunted, the rocket will travel 62 miles above the earth.

Engadget reports that a flight to space will set you back $102,000.

Orbital Technologies' Space Hotel
Of course, you'll need somewhere to put your bags once you're in space.

Orbital Technologies, a Russian company, is building a space hotel where 7 guests will be able to dine on veal cheeks and wild mushrooms at 217 miles above the earth.

The company is planning to open the hotel in 2016.

According to Reuters, a five-day stay will set you back a cool $1 million.

Stay there o! Do U think GTB have that ATM machine in space for nothing?

At the end of the day, Nigeria is not welcome.

Huh?

How will Nigerians benefit from this Iiiiiiish?

redcliff: [size=14pt]lolz. As some sick people here would say, "end time tinx".[/size]

sure end tym tinx for them,

it is just the beginning for folks like me

HARDDON:



sure end tym tinx for them,

it is just the beginning for folks like me

How would this work for you Pls?

know: Stay there o! Do U think GTB have that ATM machine in space for nothing?

here is the deal which only the adventurous ones( with alota cash to spare ) would appreciate.

Imagine going to the moon to really spend your honeymoon.

imagine tourists having an extra spot to ball into... of all places, outa space

imagine taking a vacation away from this gravitational glow.

ISS could even be a destination for some.

the possibilities are endless. as you might have known, most critical research now, are carried out in the ISS.

then there is Orbital Technologies' Space Hotel.

coupled with paypal bringing along payments solutions

what more can you really ask for?