Voyager Station: Design Features of the World’s First Space Hotel

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The Voyager Station will be the first commercial space station with a one-of-its-sort lavish hotel that can accommodate 400 individuals and offers exceptional scenes of our planet for travelers and scientists.

Now, an excursion to the space won't be limited to astronauts alone. Progressing beyond the plot of a science fiction film, individuals would now be able to plan a holiday trip outside the Earth. By 2027, space enthusiasts can, in a real sense, have an extraterrestrial feeling as the interstellar hotel will be operational soon.

The station will operate with artificial gravity inside a goliath wheel that will rotate around our planet. The station can increase or decrease the degree of artificial gravity by changing the rate of rotation of the wheel. Artificial or reproduced gravity is vital in the long haul for creating housing societies in the space. 

As indicated on the Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC) website, this has been intended to blend business with leisure. It won't just oblige the space agencies to conduct scientific research on low gravity, but in addition, it will take the space tourists, who want to spend time on the space station with the solace of low gravity while giving the vibe of a lavish lodging. Nonetheless, only a few people can have such kind of experience because the trip to the world's first space hotel would cost around USD 25 million. 

The Voyager Station will have a habitation ring in which a large number of compressed modules will be connected in a series. The modules will arrive in an assortment, where the exclusive modules will be utilized for hotels, resorts, business activity, and government-possessed modules for research, training, and scientific purposes. 

All in all, what all can individuals expect when visiting this lavish hotel in the inner space area? All things considered, other than the marvelous perspectives, individuals will not be able to fly around in astronaut suits like the space explorers living in the International Space Station (ISS). However, the individuals can enjoy the facilities like showers, toilet, and bed due to the artificial gravity that works like what we are using on Earth, which is not possible on ISS. 

The design concept of Voyager Station was first revealed in 2012 and finally, OAC was established in 2018 to build the world's first space hotel. In this article, we discuss the design concept of the modules from a civil engineering perspective, which will be used in creating the space hotel.  

1. Guest Module

The guest module, which will form the middle part of the Voyager Station, has to be as comfortable as a real hotel. The visitors need to feel calm in a fundamentally uncomfortable atmosphere. To start with, the comfort to the visitors is given the highest priority. However, in space, because of weightlessness, the living space is estimated in volume rather than area. Therefore, a big enough volume will be required to accommodate 400 individuals. 

As sleeping in bed in space is definitely not a simple solution, the concept of creating artificial gravity inside the hotel area is adopted rather than using inflatable module. Also, the inflatable module can't have windows in the rooms, which would be a disadvantage for the visitors.

To have hotel rooms as commodious as conceivable in the module, the biggest size allowed by rocket launcher would be adopted for building the guest module. Therefore, the maximum permissible size for the room could be 11 m in length and 4.5 m in diameter because this can be the biggest size adopted by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launcher. Moreover, around 50 to 70 cm wall thickness would be adopted as it is in the ISS. 

To achieve this, the module will be cut into several slices and each slice would represent a room. This implies that each room would be extended through the full diameter of the module. Also, a passage would be added for the visitors to pass by and go from their space to different modules on the left and right sides. This passage will be put on one side of the module, with the goal that the rooms take more than half of the module space.

The dragon capsules will be docked on the guest module to evacuate every person in the event of an emergency. At least two dragon capsules would be docked in the hotel between ten rooms. Therefore, extra two slices for the capsule would be used with the two docking sites facing on the other to assemble the complete unit of the guest module. Also, one slice more modest than the other will be used at the edge of the module as a toilet room. 

2. The Infinite View Module

The primary thought of this module is to introduce an environment wherein the visitors get inundated with the experience that they are in space. The module includes a mind-blowing view that will satisfy the visitors and give them a feeling that their money is well spent. Additionally, this module will fill in as the essential storeroom of the space hotel. This module will have a diameter of 4.5 m and a length of 6 m. 

To get an extraordinary view, the top piece of the module will be comprised of transparent aluminum ceramic-composite glass. There will be a total of four layers of this material. First layer will be for external protection against micrometeorites, the next two layers will be for pressurization, and one layer will be kept redundant. This structure would provide comfort to the visitor to view the space and earth with pleasure.   

The module will be divided into two sections, the top will be for the visitors to gaze at the space and earth, and the other part will be used for storage purposes. A retractable door will be provided to separate the floors of both the sections. Cylindrical openings will be provided to enter the food and entertainment zone with the integration of a display that can show pictures of space on the floor coordinating both the real perspective on space in addition to the virtual perspective while encountering weightlessness.

The lower portion of the module will be comprised of aluminum because aluminum and its composites have been tried and utilized in ISS and space vehicles. Solar panels will be used next to this module and an area for future expansion will be provided. 

The mechanical arm accessible on the lower surface of the guest module can get to rails in the lower part of the infinite view module with the goal to maximize the range of the module. This will help in assembling the solar panels coming from the space vehicle.

3. Crew Module

An innovative BA330 inflatable module will be used for the crew module. BA330 is designed by the Bigelow Aerospace Company. This choice depended on the reason that it will be launched by 2023, which was satisfying the launching limit. (of not later than 2025) Additionally, this module will have 20 years’ life span, which is almost equal to the lifespan of other space hotel modules. BA330 is picked explicitly due to its availability. This module can accommodate at least six crew members, a gym center, a control room, and a storage room. 

This module is inflatable, which implies it possesses a lesser area during launching. Therefore, the overall cost will reduce because a smaller number of launches would be required. BA330 is a relatively new technology however it is proven to be the same or better at shielding the radiation than the existing module used at ISS.

BA330 is additionally furnished with very powerful engines enough for the module to have the option to autonomously arrive at the location of the Voyager Station and dock itself. These engines will consistently be operational, i.e., the engines can be used afterward to control the altitude and make up for the dragon's engine's direction limitations.

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