Summary: We might not be ready for commercial space travel, let alone colonization of alien planets, but that hasn’t stopped PayPal from planning for that inevitable future. PayPal Galactic is a new form of mobile payments, which PayPal hopes will dominate the extraterrestrial payments market. It may seem like a goofy marketing ploy, but last week’s announcement featured Buzz Aldrin and actually kind of makes sense. We’re getting closer to making space tourism a reality, and PayPal wants to ensure that once it is the preferred way to pay from space and in space. PayPal has teamed up with SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, to help establish the beginning of a functioning society beyond Earth. Aside from establishing a future payment system for a future with space tourism, PayPal says there’s already a need for a system like this to serve astronauts whose desire for good new music hasn’t stopped, just because they’ve left Earth. So remember, before you takeoff into outer space, make sure you know your PayPal password.
