Hotels in space – the final frontier for luxury travel or pure science fiction?
Billionaire entrepreneurs want to send space tourists on long orbital flights that could cost up to US$55 million for a 10-day stay on a space station, but some experts think the prospect is totally unrealistic
Everyone wants a room with a view, but how about one of Planet Earth from 250 miles (402 kilometres) up?
While space tourism is still in its infancy, there are already tentative plans for three private space stations that could host the “citizen astronauts” of the future.
Orion Span, Axiom Space and Bigelow Aerospace are all at various stages of planning for their own orbital observatories. Each go way beyond the few minutes in space promised by both Virgin Galactic and by Blue Origin, but just how realistic the proposition of trips to low-Earth orbit is remains to be seen.
Some think that it is too early to be thinking about orbiting space hotels. “Building a space station is complex and expensive,” says Australia-based space flight analyst Dr Morris Jones.
There is also the small problem of getting to orbit, which for now is limited to a Russian Soyuz rocket. “We will need a reliable and accessible orbital tourist vehicle before we can seriously consider space hotels,” says Jones, adding that the current generation of space tourist vehicles only make short suborbital flights.
“But the bigger challenge is making a business case for one,” he says, referring to private space stations in general. Although these plan to attract space tourists – each paying millions of dollars – their business plans hinge on also hosting astronauts from the likes of Nasa and other national space agencies.
Perhaps the most ambitious is California-based based space company Orion Span’s Aurora Station. With room for six space tourists and two crew, Aurora Station will feature huge windows, Wi-fi, and is due to open for business in 2022.