The first commercial space hotel will look like a cruise ship. Nothing will have to do with the space stations that science fiction cinema has recreated so many times.
And the Gateway Foundation is designing what will be the first space hotel in the world, the Von Braun Space Station.
They join companies like Orion Span that are also working to get tourists to space or the moon.
This station will have gravity, kitchen, bars and interiors made with natural and colorful materials.
“Going to space is going to become another travel option for tourists, such as going on a cruise or Disney World,” says Tim Alatorre, an architect who is devising this project, to the architecture magazine Dezeen.
The goal of the Gateway Foundation is that Von Braun be operational by 2025 with 100 tourists visiting the station every week.
“Because travel costs are very high, there is still a widespread conception that only very rich people will be able to access these trips; however, the Gateway Foundation aims to minimize the cost to make these trips available to as many people as possible.”
The space station will be based on the technology that is currently used for the International Space Station (ISS), however, unlike this, the hotel will have artificial gravity, which will make tourists feel much more comfortable.
This design is based on a series of concepts developed in the 50’s of the last century by aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun, hence the station is named after him.
The Von Braun will consist of a 190 meter diameter wheel that will turn to create a gravitational force similar to that felt on the moon. Around the steering wheel there will be 24 individual modules equipped for sleeping, among other support functions.
“There will also be many of the things found on a cruise: restaurants, bars, concerts, movies and even educational talks,” says Alatorre.
Some modules will also be rented as individual residences, while others will be offered to different governments for scientific purposes. In total, the Gateway Foundation expects the population of the Von Braun wheel to be about 400 people.
The foundation wants visitors to feel as comfortable as possible, so it will reject futuristic interior design, which we are so used to seeing in science fiction movies, to decorate the station with a much more familiar decoration.
“In the 2001 film: Odyssey in Space, Space Station 5 designed by Stanley Kubrick was very sterile, white, museum type,” says the architect. “Although it gave a very futuristic feeling, the space did not seem very cozy,” he concludes.
Likewise, Alatorre points out that scientific advances make it possible to create substitutes for natural materials that are much lighter and easier to clean, “since it is not feasible to put materials such as stone or wood into orbit.” In addition, the use of fabrics, lighting and warm-colored paints will help tourists feel at home.
Source: Tecnohotelnews
