By Tim Binnall
A proverbial interstellar construction company has announced plans to build a lavish space hotel and they hope to welcome their first guests to the fantastic facility in just six years. During a recent online event, the Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC) reportedly provided a glimpse of what their 'Voyager Station' will look like once it has been completed and shared details as to how they intend to pull off such an audacious project. Designed to accommodate approximately 400 people spread out throughout 24 "habitation modules," the ring-shaped space station will measure around 650 feet in diameter and reside in low Earth orbit, where it will rotate in a manner that will generate gravity similar to that found on the moon.
Much like luxurious cruise ships here on Earth, the hotel will be equipped with a vast array of amenities including all manner of restaurants and recreational activities, specifically a bevy of attractions designed to take advantage of the facility's out-of-this-world setting. In addition to space tourists, the company hopes to sell spots on the station to various governments and any other large organizations that may wish to study or make use of its unique artificial gravity. OAC says that they hope to begin construction on the space hotel sometime around 2025, when a specially designed craft known as the Structure Truss Assembly Robot will be dispatched into space and begin building the framework of the facility.
Assuming that there are no complications in the complex construction process, which may border on wishful thinking at this stage of the station's development, they anticipate spending two years completing the project and ultimately opening for business in 2027. With that in mind, those hoping to visit the space hotel sometime in the future will likely want to start saving now as the estimated cost for just a three-and-a-half-day visit is a whopping $5 million. Alas, with that kind of price tag, most of us will likely be stuck in the unenviable position of looking at someone's else vacation pictures from the historic station rather than experience it for ourselves.