What Will Be the Most Common Currency In a Future Space-Based Society?
Gold coins? Platinum pellets? Grains of cobalt? I predict water will be the preferred currency in outer space. You can drink it, bathe in it, breathe it (oxygen), burn it in rocket engines (oxygen and hydrogen), grow things (hydroponics), and protect yourself from radiation.
Water is easily stored, shaped, and divided up for transactions. It can be flash frozen and quickly thawed with the deep cold of space and the intense radiation of the Sun.
The current method of water storage in space looks like duffel bags with a spout as this picture reveals. This astronaut below is obviously reveling in the fortune of water surrounding him. That water is worth $83,400 per gallon based on the current cost of $10,000 to put a pound of something into orbit. Hopefully, it is Evian or Fuji.
Or one could build a palace of ice in outer space. There is that much water available on some asteroids. Just make sure the seal between the ice and the airlock stays frozen solid.
Small entrepreneurs will make their first fortunes by seeking out chunks of ice in the asteroid belt or simply mining close-flying…
