The STARFLOWER space hotel

theSTARFLOWER space hotel

Basic data (substract)

The satellite hotel is would be located at an altitude of about 280 to 300 kilometers. The optimal number of guests is about 25 while the crew would be about 15 person.

Experiencing Space To make make the space hotel fun and interesting for visitors i decided to exploit interesting technological and technical potentials of Space and electronic industry. The STARFLOWER must have a constant orientation to the sun and always has to be placed on the sunny side of Earth, so the view would be interesting. The spece building must be as open as possible to enable the people on board to have maximum view of the universe and Earth. The spece hotel must be equipped with a connecting fitting for the transportation spacecraft to dock. Form in the space / shape of space Because of the specificity of absolute three-dimensional space of the universe and an important part of my project was finding an adequate physical shape that would be the basic building blocks in place which is absolutely a three-dimensional (not a quasi three-dimensional as on Earth). The form had to be human oriented since the standard size of human could be the only relevant modular unit in the infinite space. A 60x60x60cm basic spece geometric and dimensional basic module was established. If we accept the Leonardian relationship of man and circle and turn this 2D shape in to three-dimensional form, we will get the sphere, probably the most 3D shape there is. The main problem with a spherical shape is, that it is extremely difficult to combine into complex compositions. So the sphere and cylinder was taken, since these shapes are three-dimensionality derivates of a circle. The final form of the hotel is essentially linear, cylinder, which emphasize the relationship between the Sun and the Earth with the spherical buble end towards the Earth. The characteristic of the inevitable, and the largest building element of the satellite, the solar cells that they should be oriented toward the Sun as it is their source of energy. This reminded me of sunflowers. The name of the hotel is derived from the shape of object reminding of the flower, since the word "sunflower" that is not in English should mean something like a Sunflower for the Space.

Position The hotel is anticipated to be at about 280 to 300 kilometers above sea level, roughly the same as the ISS (the Moon is about 400000km). The building has always the same orientation towards the Sun, so for the people onboard it would seem that the Earth is revolving in front of them. This way the most attractive view is achieved, and the fact that the hotel is always on the sunny side of Earth. It would be very interesting (of course if it is possible) if the object could be temporarily moved to a higher or lower altitude and/or to the dark side of Earth. Because of its shape object can be expanded (by adding levels that are modulated). There is also a possibility to connect multiple objects in a complex structure that could constitute a larger facility.

Feature The specificity of autonome space station (which basically this hotel is) and the weightlessness, demanded adaptation of the standard programming scheme of a hotel that are built on Earth.

1. Communications Connection in terms of transport of people and goods is carried out via spacecraft. Transport vehicle for building are connected by connecting segments on the side towards the sun. For this connection it is planned to use existing technologies currently in use on the ISS. The specificity of movement in a three-dimensional object in Space without gravity (levitation), require the solution for problems of communication with holders or grippnig elements, also an artificial air flow with fans could be provided in the spherical space towards the Earth to control the movement. In smaller spaces, to control the direction and speed of movement a tight, solid net is provided (for sports facilities, rooms). It would be interesting to develop a technology for controlling movement with electromagnets and some kind of a 3D mouse to control. The main communication corridor is located on the longitudinal axls in the center of cylindrical form tubular shape. This is a central hall is connected to all areas. Local communication between the main communications corridor and the room is provided with a special tubular telescopic corridor that penetrates through the bathroom.
2. Housing part It is necessary to provide housing and space for guests and crew members, or staff. These two groups of housing units are clearly separated into two groups of rooms. Living part of the guests were grouped closest to port for the transportation vehicle. Living part of the staff is located to the spaces for maintaining the living conditions, control of movement and communication with Earth and the space station and other facilities.
3. Residential units A special attention was devoted to the design of the residential unit. In the Spaceflower hotel there are housing units for guests are double and there are 14, while four staff housing there is 4 units with four beds. The form of housing units was generated from a standard hotel rooms functional scheme that is adapted to three-dimensional space. When converting a functional scheme of a standard hotel room to a three-dimensional space the two-dimensional problem of eccentricity of the entrance space and bathroom appeard. This problem was solved by a telescopic tunnel that penetrates through the bathroom area. When a user enters the room or get out of it, he/she passes through the tube hallway without direct contact with the bath area. If the user wants to use the bathroom, she/he can do this only if he/she is located in the residential part of the hotel room, in this situation the tubular corridor subtracts and he/she can enter the bathroom.
4. The "Space walk" level The Space Walk is one feature that raises the attractiveness of the hotel because this is a very attractive activity. Contact with open Space is something that Space Turists will certainly want to try. This activity is performed in the same way it currently works in the Space Shuttle or the ISS. During "Space Walks" the solar cells are substracted so the "walkers" could have the best possible view.
5. The level for sports and recreation (basketball and swimming) Basketball in Space is a sport that is something between volleyball and basketball. The game performed in a round, kidney shaped space that has a tight net all around that players use to catch, move around and stop or if it is necessary, bounce off. The game is played with a ball, that should be bounced. Each of the two teams (or one, if you play 1 on 1) has a basket on the opposite ends of space and the ame of the game is to get the ball as many times as possible in the opposite teams basket. Water acts very interestingly in Space because of surface tension. So games with and in water and "swimming" should be quite interesting. The shape of space for water activities should be identical as for basketball, only in this case instead of the net a watertight material/mambrane should be provided. During these activities the participants wear masks with oxygen tanks, which enables them to breathe.

... 8. Spherical level This level is multifunctional. This bulbous area is ideal for monitoring Earth due to its shape and because of their orientation towards our planet. Because of its volume, this area provides our guests to experience the full weightlesness situation and enjoy it. In this region, namely the part that is oriented towards the body of the hotel dining is provided. In the center of this area there is a special attraction, a VR sphere. Construction The building is essentially a completely prefabricated and built in Space by connecting the prepared segments (whose size depends on the transport capabilities) built on the land. Segments are essentially prefabricated metal panels with substructure out of metal profiles. These segments are transported to a previously described method of transport, the lowest altitude, out of the atmosphere (about 30000m). There they taken by "space-tow boats" with or without a human crew that take them to the desired position. The object is compiled on the spot using robots. ... Materialization For the treatment of external surfaces a material that reflect the radiation and protect from differences in temprature should be used. Internal materialization should be resistant to the effects of fire, as it fire could be a major problem. Colors Interior surfaces must be warm and natural (pink, punch, beige, orange ...) to compensate for the relatively cold colors that dominate in the vicinity of Earth. Materialization in cases of internal space should allow movement of the user in terms of point and line handles and handle surfaces that are in fact tight, solid nets with small (about 5cm) holes, separated/raised from the solid surface of the walls, for gripping and protection from hitting hard surfaces. Particularly interesting are the glazed surfaces that make up the exterior walls of residential spaces and a large, common spherical space. The combination of multi-layered glass and protective glass of the LCD display. The function of the liquid crystal display is needed to close up space (block visual communication with the outside). This surfaces could also used for projecting information and images (since the connection to the space telescope Hubble is very good at this place, those can be images or movies that it sends). These displays could be voice commanded (passing through menus), marking directions (the position of certain points on the Earth's surface), etc..