No, you did not accidentally get to the online library of Clark's, Strugatsky's and Bradbury's works, but just opened the "Subtitles" page devoted to the burning topic: where to stay in Kosmos .Thanks to the development of capitalism and the multiplication of capitalists, as well as due to the lack of funds on the accounts of state corporations - in the end, money is not superfluous - it is nothing delusional to personally conquer the stellar heights: it is real, like life, and the experience of the first space tourists confirm this .Since the commencement of commercial flights to Kosmos, only ten years have passed and eight starts - but the degree of development of the space tourism industry is already shocking the imagination .Of course, it is premature to talk about thick catalogs of orbital hotels and "a convincing victory for Vasyukin at the first ever interplanetary chess tournament", but it all promises that in the relatively near future travel agents will recommend the hotel, for example, with a view of Africa or away from the orbit of graves space debris .In general, we decided to once again get ahead of time and present to our readers a preliminary list of space hotels .
International Space Station
The main and only current "hotel", a part-time international research center and a space house for the international cosmonauts team .The ISS consists of 15 main modules, two spacecraft - manned "Union" and cargo "Progress" and 15 additional modules and devices .By the way, the participating countries of the program are also 15 - just a sacred cosmic number! Some of the countries have their own modules in the station, others are satisfied with the possibility of conducting scientific work on a "rent" basis .
Under an agreement with the "Roskosmos", which is in charge of all space tourists, commercial travelers to Kosmos are populated on the Russian segment of the ISS .Its residential center is the "Zvezda" module, one of the first elements of the station, delivered to orbit in 2000 .It is not too spacious: the internal habitat, which will accommodate three cosmonauts, only 46 cubic meters .At the same time there are all necessary life support systems for a person at the station, power plant, individual cabins with a volume of 1, 2 cubic meters (!), A gym, a place for cooking and absorbing food .Combined bathroom - washbasin plus sanitation unit - also takes 1, 2 m .
The distance to the Earth is about 360 km, the period of circulation is about 90 minutes. The voltage in the network is 28 V, the only source of energy in the station is the Sun, the rays of which are sensitively captured by numerous solar batteries .All electrical appliances, including personal computers of crew members, of course, adapted for 28 V .The cosmonauts use water without waste: "spent" water passes through the purification system and re-enters the consumption .Communication with the Earth and between individual segments of the ISS is provided by radio waves .There is also the Internet with a very decent speed: about 10 and 3 Mbit / s for the forward and reverse channel .
From the entertainment of the hotel - the very stay in it: weightlessness and views from the window, eating and doing the toilet, participating in experiments, communicating with the Earth and, as the organizers promise, in the foreseeable future walking through the territory, that is, going out into the open. The
Commercial space station Bigelow (concept)
The first real commercial hotel in orbit, for the creation of which seriously took the corporation Bigelow Aerospace, should hospitably open the airlock for the wide space community in 2015, .The perspective is quite real: at the moment around the planet are already flying two Genesis test modules, in the image and likeness of which the station will be created .The main feature of the Bigelow concept is in "cheating": the modules are sent from the ground in a folded form, and after occupying their place in orbit they are inflated - their diameter is doubled .The next launch in space as existing in the form of a full-size mock-up of residential orbital modules BA-330 and Sundancer is on the verge - they will form the backbone of the future Commercial Space Station .The length of the modules is 14 and 8 m, respectively, the diameter is about 6 m .Initially, they will accommodate 9 cosmonauts .The useful volume of the BA-330 should be 330 cubic meters (hence the name of the module), which, with the current crowdedness on board the ISS, is represented by improbably luxurious mansions .In the future, the corporation plans to deliver to the near-Earth space more impressive modules with a volume of absolutely fantastic 2100 cubic meters, which is twice as much as the total volume of the ISS .
The projected altitude of the hotel's orbit is 460 km, which is 100 km higher than the International Space Station.
Russian commercial space station (concept)
Another promising developer of space housing is the Russian rocket and space corporation Energia, which plans to place the recreational analogue of the ISS, the Commercial Space Station, in orbit in 2015. Today, the corporation's specialists are carrying out design work, and it is expected that the first module in the flesh it will be possible in a couple of years. In brief about the hotel: 20 cubic meters and 4 rooms, a one-time number of tourists on board - seven .The developers promise to pay special attention to comfort: the relatively spacious living quarters and the minimum of wires and devices visible to the uninitiated - in general, everything is like in a serious "five" .Deliver tourists to the station is planned already known "Unions", and for technical flights will be used "Progress" .In addition, foreign (in relation to Russia) spacecraft will be able to dock with the KKS - the contingent in the hotel is expected to be international .
Options for visiting the station: short-term expeditions from 3 to 14 days, a stay of an average duration of 1 to 2 months, long-term visits for 4-6 months and a combination of stay at the Commercial Space Station and the ISS.
The distance between the two stations will be about 100 km, the altitude of the KKS orbit is not specified yet.
Galactic Suite (concept)
A lot of pins, connected at the level of the "neck" - this is an approximate portrait of the future space hotel Galactic Suite Space Resort. Each pin is a separate residential module, docked to the central unit. It will accommodate four tourists and two crew members. Spacecraft with passengers on board will start from a specially constructed cosmodrome in the Caribbean islands and be put into orbit due to the thrust of powerful hybrid rocket engines. The height of the soaring will be about 450 km above the Earth.
Technical details of the future galactic resort are still unknown, but the price has already been announced: about $ 4.5 million for a room with a view of the Earth. It is said that more than 50 people have already booked seats in a non-existent hotel, which, given the vague prospects of its construction, can definitely be considered reckless.
Author - Alexandra Azarova.