A hotel in the sky
By D. P. Singh

THE space-faring nations stand at the threshold of a new revolution. With the development of space technology, journeying into space is likely to be as feasible as flying by Concorde is today. The routine access to and from Earth orbit will become an economic reality in early 21st century.

The USA, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and India are all planning hypersonic space-planes. The race towards economically viable space travel is already on. Regular flights to space stations and scheduled intercontinental passenger services will be possible by the 2010s.

Since the earliest days of space exploration, imagination of the people has been excited by the possibility of pleasure trips into orbit and beyond. The advent of commercial space-planes will bring the concept of a space hotel into the realms of reality.

Japan’s Shimizu Corpora-tion, the world’s largest construction company has ambitious plans to corner the market in space leisure travel. It has opposed a design for an orbiting hotel. The hotel would be in orbit by 2020. It is likely to be constructed at the cost of US $ 28 million. The hotel would be the first in a chain that may include a hotel on the Moon.

Shimizu Corporation’s "hotel in the sky" will have a mass of around 7500 tons. It will require at least 300 visits by a supply craft to complete its construction. The hotel rooms will be mounted on a wheel-shaped frame some 140 metre in diameter.

The ring of hotel rooms will be attached to a central elevator shaft. At the top of this shaft will be a pyramid-shaped observation platform. The whole structure will rotate three times per minute.

The Shimizu Corporation is planning six-day visits to space, including a two and a half-day stay aboard the hotel, for up to 64 guests at a time. The rooms on the Shimizu Hotel will have such luxuries as sofa beds, toilets, showers, windows, desks and liquid-screen TV monitors.

Aboard the Tokyo Orbital International, the space tourists will have no shortage of things to do. Shimizu talks of space walks, theatre activities and even the possibility of performing wedding ceremonies in the orbit! Observing and photographing the earth will doubtlessly occupy endless hours.

Curious terrestrial variations, sports, such as squash and handball, could develop in the hotel’s low-gravity environment. Unusual forms of jacuzzis and swimming pools could provide endless hours of fun. Eating in orbit could prove entertaining, but possibly for the wrong reasons, as drinking fluids under low gravity conditions often result in chronic flatulence!

Shimizu plans do not mention a bar. But as Barron Hilton (the founder of the Hilton hotel chain) told the American Astronomical Society "If you think we’re not going to have a cocktail lounge you don’t know travellers".

The space presents its own hazards. ‘Space adaptation syndrome’ or nausea would vex the short-term visitor to the space hotel. This can be induced by the sudden alteration of the balance mechanism in the inner ear. Sedative drugs such as scopolamine-dexedrine have been prescribed to counteract nausea, though they tend to make the user drowsy.

Shimizu Corporation believes its investment of US $ 28 million could be recovered by charging around US $ 45,000 per ticket. At least the prospective guests have 20 years to start saving.