TOURISM IN SPACE HOTELS

In order to provide longer touristic stays in Earth orbit, concepts for space hotels have been investigated world-wide. In Japan, several designs for large-scale space hotels were analysed in the context of industrial studies like the Shimizu space hotel illustrated in fig. 13 [MATSUMOTO97]. It has a total mass of 8000 tons and offers all amenities and entertainment opportunities, one can expect from such a giant hotel complex. It is difficult to imagine from a current standpoint, that this giant hotel complex can be financed, built up and constructed in the near future. However, this sophisticated hotel concept might represent the second generation of space hotels maybe in the second half of the 21st century.