Galactic Suite is a planned private space station intended for use as an orbital hotel. The company behind the project, Galactic Suite Limited of Barcelona, 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.
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, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
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, similar to its use in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The station will orbit the Earth once every 80 minutes, providing 15 day-and-night cycles every 24 hours. Claramunt says that construction of the station will...
