Virgin Galactic has been in discussions with Bigelow Aerospace about the possible development of space hotels using Bigelow’s inflatable module technology, according to an article in Hotel Magazine. Richard Branson said in Dubai last week that Virgin Galactic is considering using Bigelow’s modules and unspecified space transportation systems to develop an orbital hotel:
We are talking to people who are developing hotels for space. We are also talking to people who are developing launch craft to get hotels into space. People know that we can turn something that might seem a bit bizarre into a commercial reality. Personally, I think there’s a demand for space hotels.
The unanswered questions here are when Virgin might pursue a space hotel, and how it would ferry passengers there and back. An orbital spacecraft (SpaceShipThree?) has been in the long-term plans for Burt Rutan, but it seems unlikely this would be ready until well after 2010, given the current focus on SpaceShipTwo and the technological challenges of developing an orbital version. Of course, it will take some time for Bigelow to develop full-scale inflatable modules, although the company is planning the first launch of subscale test modules later this year.
This is exciting stuff. Although I am a little hesitant, with a nagging feeling that SpaceX (with announcing Falcon 9 will fly by the end of next year without even a successful launch) and Virgin Galactic planning hotels without flying suborbital flights may be biting off too much to chew, I’m extremely excited.
How’s that for one long run-on, gramatically abhorrent, sentence?