- Galactic Suite
"Galatic Suite" is a planned private
space station intended for use as an orbital hotel. The company behind the project, Galactic Suite Limited ofBarcelona ,Spain , plans to have the station operational by 2012, and says that investors have come forward to finance the station. Critics, however, have contended that the stated time-frame is unreasonable and no evidence of hardware has been produced.History
The station began as a hobby for Xavier Claramunt, director of Galactic Suite Limited and former aerospace engineer. "Galactic Suite" entered development after an unnamed space enthusiast invested US$3 billion to build the space station. An American company with the goal of colonising Mars has invested in the project, and discussions are reportedly ongoing with additional private investors from
Japan , theUnited States and theUnited Arab Emirates .cite web |url=http://www.space.com/news/070811_space_hotel.html |title=Space Hotel Slated to Open in 2012 |work=Space.com |first=Andrea |last=Thompson |date=2007-08-11 |accessdate=2007-08-14] no icon cite web |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/reise/article1934576.ece |title=Hotels gets whole new meaning |work=Aftenposten.no |first=Simmi |last=Kaur |date=2007-08-14 |accessdate=2007-08-14]Project
Designs for "Galactic Suite" call for a central hub with four modules radiating out, providing three bedrooms for six customers at a time. Claramunt says that while it will be a challenge to design a bathroom that works in microgravity, showers may be taken in a spa room with bubbles of floating water. The issue of moving around in space will be solved by having guests wear suits of
Velcro and sticking to the module walls. The station will orbit the Earth once every 80 minutes, providing 15 day-and-night cycles every 24 hours.cite web |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL1089156420070810?sp=true |title=Fly me to the moon: space hotel sees 2012 opening |work=Reuters |first=Pascale |last=Harter |date=2007-08-10 |accessdate=2007-08-12] Claramunt says that construction of the station will begin in October 2008, and that European companyEADS Astrium will be the contractor in charge of building the modules and other equipment.es icon cite news |url=http://www.publico.es/152522 |title=2012, una quimera en el espacio |work=Público.es |first=Daniel |last=Mediavilla |date=2008-09-19 |accessdate=2008-09-20]The company has stated that a three-day stay will cost US$4 million per customer. Included in this cost is an intensive eight week space training course on a tropic island. Company studies have found that 40,000 people worldwide are capable of affording such a stay.
Criticism
Some experts, including Thomas Bouvet (
International Astronautical Federation ), Mark Homnick (4Frontiers) and Juan de Dalmau (Centro Tecnológico para la Industria Aeronáutica y del Espacio ) are sceptics of the project. They have raised concerns that Galactic Suite will be unable to meet the 2012 goal because no hardware has been built and tested. The stated investment to the company is an issue since they have not revealed the identity of their investor, nor does the investment seem to be enough to cover all the project's needs; for example, the suborbital shuttle proposed by EADS Astrium would cost €1 billion, and the transformation of ESA'sAutomated Transfer Vehicle into a craft capable of transporting people to space would cost €2.3 billion. Further, EADS Astrium claims to have no information regarding the "Galactic Suite" project.ee also
*
Bigelow Aerospace References
External links
* [http://www.galacticsuite.com Galactic Suite official site]
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