NEWS | The first hotel in space could be open for business sooner than you think

An American tech company hope to deliver a cruise-like space experience well before the end of this decade.

The Gateway Foundation’s ‘Voyager’ station is currently in development, with the goal being to provide rooms for up to 400 people. Its circular spinning frame should allow the structure to emulate an artificial gravity level similar to Mars - 40 per cent of the Earth’s own. The project is expected to be the first to create a more liveable, long term environment for humans in this way.

Voyager station will provide an assortment of cruise ship-like opportunities to eat, relax and work, including a health spa, cinemas, and bars. The hotel will have the capacity to surround the planet in just 90 minutes.

Its frame will also be large enough to fit twenty 65x40 foot pods which will act as marketable ‘villas’, as well as rented space for companies like NASA to work and live.

This logistics will be made possible by Orbital Assembly, a space construction company. They have developed the Structure Trust Assembly Robot (STAR), which will build the hotel in-orbit upon completion of successful gravity testing. A date is set to begin construction in 2025, with the expectation that the hotel will be fully operational by 2027.

The works are modeled from ideas first created by groundbreaking rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, who was a key figure in NASA’s Apollo space program.

Concept art for the project depicts everyday images of the final design, featuring rounded beveled windows, as well as a plethora of minimalist architecture.

“This will be the next industrial revolution" says Gateway Foundation founder John Blincow.