“To boldly go where no man has gone before.” The phrase may have been made popular by a fictional character, but it can easily apply to reality, as well. Enter the Orbital Assembly Corporation.
The Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC, for short) is a branch of The Gateway Foundation, which was set up in 2012 but most likely became a household name in 2019, when it announced plans for a space hotel. Initially called the Von Braun Space Station, that space hotel has now been rebranded as The Voyager Station, and, in case you were wondering, yes, it is still happening.
OAC and Voyager Station are riding a high wave of media attention right now, even though the reason they’re doing so isn’t new. At the end of January 2021, in an hour-long live chat, OAC revealed new details and current plans for the Voyager Station in a bid to raise capital. As we speak, you can book reservations for a visit to the space hotel or, if you so wish, invest in the venture.
The goal was to raise at least $10,000 by April 1, but we’re one month away from the deadline, and OAC has already reached the maximum goal of $1 million. The idea of flying into low-orbit for a vacation might seem like SUCH a sci-fi, Hollywood-cliche thing, but it’s clearly something many are interested in. More to the point, they’re willing to put their money into it.
We’ve discussed the Von Braun project in a previous coverstory with the details available at the time. Some specifics haven’t changed, like how the “hotel” will be a wheel-shaped construction that will spin to create artificial gravity, with modules for long-term living and research and a variety of amenities. Some details have been altered, like the size of the wheel, and some have just been added. Here are the current state and estimated progress of the project.
The habitat will have a diameter of 200 meters (650 feet) and will be built in space by robots from parts put together on Earth. Assembly of the whole thing will be the easiest part of the process, OAC hopes. The outer ring packs 24 modules of 20x12 meters (65x40 feet), which can serve a variety of purposes. Those range from a skybar (in the most literal sense) to kitchen and themed restaurant, hotel suites offering sleeping for two, research labs, crew quarters, gym and activity room, and concert venue slash movie theater.
With artificial gravity, the Voyager will have functional, “normal” toilets and showers and will allow for such activities as running and jumping. The twist is that visitors will be able to do these activities in Earth-like conditions or, if they so desire, in more unusual ones.
Once built, the Voyager will become the biggest man-made construction in space. OAC estimates a 2025 start date for the construction and a 2027 date for the grand opening. This is off by two years from the initial estimate, but with projects of this magnitude, the timeline is usually a guessing game.
That said, the road to welcoming the first guests on Voyager is difficult. OAC, whose team includes NASA researchers, designers, pilots, and engineers with experience, first has to build a functional prototype to test on Earth. Before building that prototype, they have to build the robots that will build the prototype. It’s an unsurprisingly complicated and obstacle-filled development, which will see every stage of what will become the Voyager built and tested on Earth on a variety of scale models, in a variety of conditions.
And even then, they still have their work cut out. Before putting the Voyager together, OAC will put together a testing station in low Earth orbit to test the viability of artificial gravity in space on a prototype gravity ring. This prototype will become the testbed for the technologies they aim to implement on Voyager.
Once all this is (hopefully) out of the way, Voyager will be open for business. And what an experience it will provide! “Anyone who can afford a space hotel can go on a private spacewalk, where the only thing between you and the universe is a faceplate,” says Tom Spilker, OAC’s Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering and Space Systems Design.
Speaking of “anyone” who can afford space travel, initial claims said this spaceport would be designed with regular people with regular incomes in mind. It is now believed that those who will afford such a space vacation, at least at first, will have to have an average worth of $50 million. Here’s hoping you didn’t get started on packing.
OAC and Voyager Station are riding a high wave of media attention right now, even though the reason they’re doing so isn’t new. At the end of January 2021, in an hour-long live chat, OAC revealed new details and current plans for the Voyager Station in a bid to raise capital. As we speak, you can book reservations for a visit to the space hotel or, if you so wish, invest in the venture.
We’ve discussed the Von Braun project in a previous coverstory with the details available at the time. Some specifics haven’t changed, like how the “hotel” will be a wheel-shaped construction that will spin to create artificial gravity, with modules for long-term living and research and a variety of amenities. Some details have been altered, like the size of the wheel, and some have just been added. Here are the current state and estimated progress of the project.
The habitat will have a diameter of 200 meters (650 feet) and will be built in space by robots from parts put together on Earth. Assembly of the whole thing will be the easiest part of the process, OAC hopes. The outer ring packs 24 modules of 20x12 meters (65x40 feet), which can serve a variety of purposes. Those range from a skybar (in the most literal sense) to kitchen and themed restaurant, hotel suites offering sleeping for two, research labs, crew quarters, gym and activity room, and concert venue slash movie theater.
Once built, the Voyager will become the biggest man-made construction in space. OAC estimates a 2025 start date for the construction and a 2027 date for the grand opening. This is off by two years from the initial estimate, but with projects of this magnitude, the timeline is usually a guessing game.
That said, the road to welcoming the first guests on Voyager is difficult. OAC, whose team includes NASA researchers, designers, pilots, and engineers with experience, first has to build a functional prototype to test on Earth. Before building that prototype, they have to build the robots that will build the prototype. It’s an unsurprisingly complicated and obstacle-filled development, which will see every stage of what will become the Voyager built and tested on Earth on a variety of scale models, in a variety of conditions.
Once all this is (hopefully) out of the way, Voyager will be open for business. And what an experience it will provide! “Anyone who can afford a space hotel can go on a private spacewalk, where the only thing between you and the universe is a faceplate,” says Tom Spilker, OAC’s Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering and Space Systems Design.
Speaking of “anyone” who can afford space travel, initial claims said this spaceport would be designed with regular people with regular incomes in mind. It is now believed that those who will afford such a space vacation, at least at first, will have to have an average worth of $50 million. Here’s hoping you didn’t get started on packing.
24 habitation modules (12m diameter x 20m long), each with a pressurized volume of 1,809 m3
— Orbital Assembly Corporation (@OrbitalOps) February 22, 2021
Maximum Station Occupancy: 316 to 440 depending on final module configuration (ISS: 7 when fully crewed).
44 Emergency Return Vehicles
Solar Panel Area: 9,738 m2 (ISS: 2,500 m2)