When you really want to get away from it all, a luxury hotel among the stars could be just what you’re looking for.
US startup Galactic Resource Utilization (GRU) Space is planning to build a resort on the Moon, ready to receive guests in six years.
It is currently asking hopeful space tourists to pay a £750,000 ($1million) deposit to secure a five-night stay, which may end up costing more than £7.5million ($10million) in total.
GRU Space founder Skyler Chan, 22, a recent graduate from Berkeley in California, believes the hotel will allow humans to colonise the Moon, and eventually Mars.
‘Humanity’s transition to a space-faring species is not a question of if, but when,’ he said.
‘We live during an inflection point where we can actually become interplanetary before we die. If we succeed, billions of human lives will be born on the Moon and Mars and be able to experience the beauty of lunar and martian life.
GRU Space’s first planned lunar hotel will be an inflatable structure built on Earth and transported to the Moon
The firm hopes later hotels will be much larger and built from local materials, such as bricks and concrete made on Mars
GRU Space hopes its endeavours will ultimately lead to permanent human colonisation of the Moon and, eventually, Mars
As well as luxury rooms with an incredible view of the stars and Earth, GRU Space intends to offer guests experiences on the Moon’s surface
Only 12 humans have ever walked on the Moon, but that could all change if the GRU Space project is successful
‘As a kid, I always dreamed of going into space. But this is a very complex problem to solve. It’s not just like building a bridge. It’s a different gravity environment with different building materials.
‘It’s such a unique, exciting problem to solve, but if we solve it, that means infinite human lives could be born on the Moon and Mars. We’re ushering in a whole new era of like life and culture.
‘The hotels are just a start, the economic vessel to make this happen. But once we do, I hope it will lead to a Cambrian explosion of beautiful, exciting things, and the future is gonna be awesome.’
The firm is backed by investors who also invested in Elon Musk’s SpaceX. It is also part of the Nvidia Inception Program.
Its initial plan is to construct an inflatable space hotel on Earth and land it on the lunar surface in 2032.
The structure aims to accommodate four guests, who will stay in rooms overlooking the stars for five nights.
Chief executive of GRU, Skyler Chan
The plan is to equip it with air recycling and oxygen generation, water recycling, temperature control, emergency escape system and radiation shelter for solar storms.
Designed to operate for 10 years, the firm intends to offer guests experiences such as Moonwalking, rover driving – and even rounds of low-gravity golf.
Mr Chan hopes that a second lunar hotel building will be much larger, able to accommodate 10 guests, and built with bricks and concrete made from materials found on the Moon’s surface.
‘The next trillion-dollar company isn’t building an AI agent, it’s building the first cities on the Moon and Mars, enabling billions of human lives to be born,’ he said.
‘The company that harnesses the full energy and resource potential of the solar system will become the most valuable company in human history.’
It comes just weeks before NASA is due to launch its first crew to the Moon in more than 50 years, with plans to establish a permanent lunar base.
