How would you like to stay in a space hotel? Is this something that you would want to do?
When it comes to space, much of what is discussed is science fiction. companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are working at bringing space travel to the masses. This is following a hype cycle from 5 years ago which saw a lot of attention of the ideas.
Like most technologies, they can prevail in spite of market bubbles and hype cycles. In spite of the hype dying down, we see consistent progress being made by the likes of SpaceX.
That said, it is a long way from rocket improvements to a space hotel.
Or is it?
Space hotels: 5 Years Out?
Could we see space hotels within 5 years? While this sounds like something outlandish, one company is optimistic.
A Hotel in Space Could Be Operational in Just Five Years
Voyager Station and Pioneer Station, two proposed offerings from Above: Space Development, aim to be the first commercial space hotels upon completion
My guess is we will not see this in that time period. The price tag is a bit lofty at a cool $1 billion. Also, we are far from being able to construct in space, at least to the degree required here.
However, it is something that we should start thinking about. With this comes amazing possibilities, something that can be then transferred back to Earth.
The two images above are renderings of what things could look like. If remotely accurate, we could be looking at Buck Rogers type stuff.
Space Cadets Taking Over
Probably one of the leading space cadets is Elon Musk. He has a company that is dedicated to this endeavor. At the same time, one of the others, Tesla, is working on robots. Both are going to be required for any space construction.
Jeff Bezos is another one. He is behind Blue Origin, a company that is trailing SpaceX but still pushing ahead with some major projects.
While many object to what these two are doing, we have to understand the impact of what comes out of these quests.
I admit that I am not the biggest space advocate there is. That said, I do realize how beneficial these pursuits are. Many of the developments that come out of these projects end up causing advancement on Earth. Personally, the part of rocketry that interests me is not blasting us to the stars. Instead, I would like to see the development of vehicles which can move us (or cargo) from Tokyo or New York in under an hour.
Alas, that doesn't seem to be the focus.
Either way, space tourism is capturing the imaginations of many billionaires. Richard Branson also has a great interest although his company, Virgin Galactic ran into some issues.
AI In Space
Fans of Sci-Fi has often dreamed of space travel.
What if, however, the future of traveling through our galaxy did not include humans? Perhaps having a few space hotels to visit is the limits of what we do. Much of the rest is handled by AI. After all, space is a harsh environment for humans. With machines, there is a lot less to impact their as compared to us.
Perhaps we are training the future space explorers each time we feed more into the neural networks. It might make sense to add more space related ideas to our content training. After all, we have no idea what these systems will be like in 5-10 years.
In the meantime, it is likely these systems help us solve some of the problems we are confronted with when tackling major projects of this nature. This might take a few more years of building the AI models but, with each passing generation, they do get more advanced.
At the same time, humanity is feeding more into them. Breakthroughs in all areas add up over time. Simply because humans do not make connections does not mean that it will not happen. computers are more efficient at such things.
Could we see a time when we are all getting some rest and relaxation in a space hotel? I would say this is a likely outcome at some point.
It just will not be anytime soon.
Images in article linked