Are you insanely wealthy? Do you consider the idea of merely traveling to space as a private citizen pedestrian and, frankly, beneath you? If you answered yes to both questions, then a new proposed venture by Bigelow Aerospace should be just the ticket. That’s because the company has announced its intention to launch an “inflatable hotel” into orbit by 2021. According to The Daily Mail, the B330 will be a line of “fully autonomous standalone space stations” consisting of two 55-foot modules that will be linked to create outer-space accommodations. Once conjoined, the unit will offer twice the cubic capacity of the International Space Station (ISS).
Although project bankroller and billionaire hotelier Robert Bigelow made his money running Budget Suites of America, this extraterrestrial project will be anything but affordable. The cost per passenger for accommodations in low-earth orbit and cislunar space is projected in the low seven figures, but Bigelow thinks charges in the “low eight figures” would be more likely.
As ridiculous as trusting the brains behind an earthbound extended-stay apartment company for a venture like this might sound, Bigelow has some tangible experience in the design of out-of-this-world structures. His company was the first to successfully build and attach an inflatable extension to the ISS. Dubbed the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (or BEAM), it’s currently undergoing a two-year durability study. A partnership with United Launch Alliance could also see Bigelow Aersopace launching a similar structure into lunar space, potentially serving as a staging ground for future missions back to the moon.
It’s not clear what kind of amenities one could expect in Bigelow’s inflatable lunar hotel, but it’s clear that the .001-percenters who book their stay will be more concerned with the ability to brag about their night in space than the B330’s room-service options, or lack thereof.
For the rest of humanity, there’s still plenty of time to liquidate your 401k, bet it all on an obscure cryptocurrency, and book your stay with your newfound billions. Don’t actually do that, though.
