The Ritz Hotel Orbiting Earth

Think back to the last time you went on a vacation. You might have visited a place that you have been to before to experience the magic. You might have just gone on a road trip and not planned at all. You might have even gone to experience something new. Now, think about the jobs of astronauts. Though they go into space, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it's very stressful as they are constantly working. Well, what if there was a hotel in space that combines the relaxation of a vacation and the experience of space into one. What if I told you that there may be a space hotel and you might be able to visit it sooner than you think.

Render of Voyager Station with SpaceX Starships

Space tourism is an idea that is as old as space travel and rocketry. Since the 80s, the idea has become more popular to allow normal people to go into space. This almost happened in 1986 when Christa McCauliffe, a school teacher from New Hampshire was chosen to be the first private citizen to go into space. Sadly, this never happened because of the Challenger disaster which took the lives of seven, including McCauliffe. However, the first school teacher, Barbara Morgan would go into space in 1988 and there were plans to bring more private citizens into space on the space shuttle. From 2001 to 2009, 7 space tourists visited the ISS, each trip costing $25 million per person. Since then, private companies have focused on space tourism greatly. These companies include SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic, which hope to fly space tourists someday. But one company is taking it to a whole new level: The Gateway Foundation.

Dennis Tito (Left), the First
Space Tourist on the ISS

The Gateway Foundation was established in 2012 by John Blincow. Early on, the organization planned to jumpstart the space construction industry. In 2018, the Gateway Foundation founded the Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC). In 2019, the company announced their plans to build the first-ever space hotel, which they named the Gateway. OAC has a team of skilled NASA employees, pilots, architects, and engineers to help build the Gateway. OAC has also announced plans to build the Voyager station: the first intergalactic spaceport. Both of these will rotate to simulate gravity.

The Gateway in a Size Comparison

The first product that the Gateway Foundation is developing is the Gateway. The Gateway is a hotel that will be located in LEO. The Gateway will be able to house a crew of 150 and a guest capacity of 1250. It is a circular-shaped spaceport that is 488 meters wide and 76 meters deep. Its main power source will be solar energy. There are four main sections on the Gateway: the Hub, the LGA, the MGA, and the Bay. The Hub is at the center of the Gateway. It will house the control room, administration, environmental processing storage, the viewport, and the bay. The LGA or Lunar Gravity Area will house the hotel rooms. It will include things like a gym, a food court, restaurants, casinos, and a vertical garden. The LGA will have simulated gravity and is predicted to house 300 guest rooms. The MGA is the Mars Gravitational Area. It will produce 30% of Earth’s gravity. It will be used to train future Mars colonists. Finally, there is the Bay. The Bay is the core of the Hub and will receive new passengers. It will serve as a runway. The Bay will have 5 gates and house 14 active bay pads. It will also facilitate travel between Earth shuttles and lunar crafts.

Render of Construction of Voyager Station

Meanwhile, the OAC is developing the Voyager station. The Voyager space station is a rotating space station that will be used by both international space agencies to conduct experiments and space tourism. The Voyager station is composed of three rings for its structure. The first ring is the inner ring, also known as the Docking Hub. This is an unpressurized ring structure with docking arms that will be designed to capture and lock spacecraft to unload passengers and cargo. A second docking hub will be added later on. The next ring is the Outer Ring Truss. This is a network of spokes that connect to the Docking Hub. It will also house a central Access Tube to allow people to go through the whole station. Finally, there is the Habitation Ring. The Habitation Ring. This ring contains housing modules where people will stay in. There will also be different modules. These include the Air Water Power (AWP) Module, the Gymnasium and Assembly (GA) Module, the Kitchen, Restaurant and Bar (KRB) Module, the Crew Quarter Module, and private modules. When completed, the Voyager station will be the largest man-made structure in space, at 650 feet wide.

Render of Modules on Voyager Station

Now you may be wondering, how will they build these humongous structures. The construction of both the Gateway and Voyager station will be somewhat similar to how the ISS was constructed. To build the ISS, the modules were built individually on Earth and then flown into space on Space Shuttles and Soyuz Rockets. The modules were then put together in space. However, both the Gateway and Voyager stations are way larger. There are three major things that the Gateway Foundation has to consider when building these huge projects: technology, money, and will. To easily transport pieces into space, the Gateway Foundation is going to rely on the Falcon Heavy and the developing Starship. The Gateway Foundation is also developing the Gateway Segment Assembly Line (GSAL). The GSAL will create segments for Gateway to use. For example, to make the Hub, the GSAL will weld square segments to create a ring. The GSAL will be fully autonomous and help make sure that the space station functions normally. Other equipment that will be used included pods that will move structures, bots, and heavy-construction space suits. The Gateway will also be an expensive project to fund, hence tickets will be expensive. To minimize cost, the Gateway Foundation may sign exclusive contracts with SpaceX and Blue Origin to lower prices.

CAD Model of GSAL

To make sure that everything works properly, the Gateway Foundation is prototyping heavily. For example, the Gateway Foundation is starting to prototype building robots that will help to build the truss. To fabricate the truss, the Gateway Foundation is using a Structure Truss Assembly Robot (STAR). Currently, they are prototyping it to see if it works, having it produce 300 feet of truss and fine-tuning it. The Gateway Foundation will also prototype gravity simulation by first building a smaller 200-foot ring first.

The Gateway Foundation is building some of the most interesting and innovative things that will get us one step closer to reaching Mars and colonizing space. The first station that the Gateway Foundation is developing is Gateway, a space hotel in LEO. Construction is expected to start in 2025 and open in 2027. The Gateway Foundation is also working on the Voyager station, the space station that will be used by national space agencies and for space tourism. Construction is expected to start in 2027 for the Voyager station. This project is one of the biggest projects in human history and paves the road for the future of space colonization.

Render of Possible Hotel Room

Sources:

“The Gateway.” Gateway Foundation, gatewayspaceport.com/the-gateway/. 

“How to Build a Spaceport.” Gateway Foundation, gatewayspaceport.com/the-gateway/how-to-build/. 

“Space Tourism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Mar. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism. 

Spry, Jeff. “Company Plans to Start Building Private Voyager Space Station with Artificial Gravity in 2025.” Space.com, Space, 25 Feb. 2021, www.space.com/orbital-assembly-voyager-space-station-artificial-gravity-2025. 

Street, Francesca. “World's First Space Hotel Scheduled to Open in 2027.” CNN, Cable News Network, 4 Mar. 2021, www.cnn.com/travel/article/voyager-station-space-hotel-scn/index.html. 

“Voyager Class Station.” Gateway Foundation, gatewayspaceport.com/voyager-station/.