flickering pictures

Travelex, the world’s largest currency exchange company, wants to see its newly minted Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination (QUID) become the money of choice for spacefaring tourists.

The cutesy name might be a bit of a stretch — intergalactic? — but with space tourism starting to take off, thrill-seeking billionaires from all over the world may well need a universal currency to spend and gamble in the space hotels of tomorrow. And tomorrow may come sooner than we think — Virgin Galactic seems set to start shuttling tourists into space next year, and Bigelow Aerospace says it’ll have orbiting hotels in place three years after that. Two prototype hotels are already in orbit.

By Travelex’s reckoning, one QUID is worth about $12.50. I guess space food will be pricey.

From the press release:

Professor George Fraser from the University of Leicester commented: “None of the existing payment systems we use on earth -– like cash, credit or debit cards -– could be used in space for a variety of different reasons. Anything with sharp edges, like coins, would be a risk to astronauts while the chips and magnetic strips used in our cards on Earth would be damaged beyond repair by cosmic radiation. What’s more, because of the distances involved — it is more than 230,000 miles from the Earth to the moon — chip and pin technology is also out of the question.”

Professor Fraser continued: “We have had to completely rethink the design of the currency from the materials used to the payment mechanisms and aesthetics. The currency cannot contain any chemicals that might contaminate the astronauts’ life support systems and must be able to survive the extreme environment of space. We also had in mind that the currency should be meaningful for any intelligent life we might encounter in other planetary systems.”

By “meaningful,” he means that each QUID is modelled after the solar system, and portrays the Sun and its eight orbiting planets. Just in case the Fleegle race from the planet Glargutron decides to accept our little plastic baubles in exchange for their sweet sweet synthehol.

Incidentally, Travelex is also trying to secure its spot as the first currency exchange office on the moon.

Thanks Lysanne!

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