Is This A Good Idea? A Lunar Hotel?
October 19, 2009
If you watched one of my favorite TV dramas, Mad Men, the other night, you may have been intrigued—or puzzled—over the fictionalized version of hotelier Conrad Hilton’s insistence that an ad campaign include his fantasy of building a hotel on the moon. Indeed, the script writers were using a bit of creative license. In real life, it actually was Barron Hilton, Conrad’s son and successor as company president, who publicly brought up the idea in a 1967 speech at a space conference.
I firmly believe that we are going to have Hiltons in outer space, perhaps even soon enough for me to officiate at the formal opening of the first. If the world powers continue to restrict outer space to peaceful pursuits, there will be travelers in outer space—and where there are travelers there must be Hiltons.
This was no idle fantasy. Barron Hilton said that he had consulted researchers at Cornell University, who actually had written a feasibility study on the project, and went on to describe his moon hotel in more detail:
Entrance to the Lunar Hilton will be on the surface of the moon, but most of the Hilton will be situated beneath the surface—say 20 to 30 feet—to establish constant temperature controls and a more workable hotel area. The experiments of Surveyor Three seem to indicate that excavations on the moon are possible and that the moon soil might be used for construction.
The Hilton will have three levels. At the bottom mechanical equipment will be housed. The center level will consist of two 400-foot guest corridors crossing in the middle core. These corridors will contain 100 guest rooms. The top level will be used for public space. Off the dining room we will place necessary machines and storage areas. The various sections will be lined with plastic which can expand under air pressure. Each section will be separated from the others by air locks. Thus, should leaks develope [sic? is it spelled that way in original?] in these pressurized cells they can be repaired as an automobile tire is repaired here on earth. The Cornell boys assure us that "leaks that develop in the system will be a nuisance rather than a disaster".
To start with we will have only three floors, which will eliminate elevators and minimize power requirements. The multi-storied underground hotel will come later. But—and this is very important—in almost every respect the Lunar Hilton will be physically like an earth Hilton.
We know that most guests are uneasy unless their accommodations are a reflection of their style of living. We will have none of those science-fiction "cells". The rooms will be large, with carpets and drapes and plants; the artificial lighting will reflect the sunlight. There will be wall-to-wall television for programs from earth and for views of outer space.
Barron Hilton also reassured future lunar visitors that they would be able to dine upon cuisine similar to what they could order from room service back on Earth. He envisioned freeze-drying steaks and reducing them to the size of silver dollars for shipment to the moon, where they would be reconstituted in the hotel’s nuclear-powered kitchen to be as “tasty and nourishing” as the fresh kind, and an automated bar that would serve martinis reconstituted from pills. He even anticipated that guests would be able to use their Carte Blanche credit cards on the moon.
Barron Hilton’s vision for a lunar hotel has yet to come to pass, but the idea hasn’t gone away. In the late 1990s, British architect Peter Inston actually drew up a plan for a 5,000-room domed, solar-powered lunar structure, reportedly at the hotel chain’s request. (Some of the conceptual drawings are reproduced in this report for a 2002 conference on space architecture.) A few years later, in 2001, Dutch architect Hans-Jurgen Rombaut designed a twin-towered lunar hotel that could accommodate 200 guests. New Scientist reported some of the more exotic flourishes:
Rombaut's hotel is a far cry from your average establishment—in fact, he prefers to call it a "sensation engine". The hotel's two slanting towers, each 160 metres high, will provide tourists space to indulge in "low-gravity games" such as indoor mountaineering, abseiling and "flying" using special suits with bat-like wings.Suspended from the Moon-rock backbones of the towers will be teardrop-shaped "habitation capsules" designed to look like small spaceships, so that guests will feel as if they're still travelling, says Rombaut. Each capsule will have its own supply of fresh water and a rubbish and sewage disposal unit that will be changed every day by the hotel staff.
You’d think that building a lunar hotel might have trouble attracting business, considering that the locale hasn’t had any visitors in the past 37 years. But with NASA now planning to return to the moon in 2019 and establish a permanent human presence there, I suspect that private-sector commercial activity won’t be that far behind. The moon could well turn into the Saudi Arabia of the 21st-century energy industry. Lunar soil is a potentially rich source of helium-3, a substance found abundantly in lunar soil that someday could fuel fusion reactors to provide most of the Earth’s energy needs; moon-based plants that would collect solar energy and transmit it to Earth might turn into another lucrative venture. And if private space travel becomes a viable industry, historic sites on the moon might turn into a major draw for tourists.
On the downside, it’s hard to come up with a meaningful estimate of just how much it might cost to build a lunar hotel, but the expense is likely to be astronomical. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) On the other hand, there don’t seem to be any shortage of software moguls clamoring to pay $20 million for rides on Russian spaceflights, so no matter how pricey the accommodations would be, my guess is that there would be plenty of takers. Obtaining a steady supply of clean towels and sheets, and keeping the minibars stocked with tiny bottles of Bombay gin, might be a bit more of a challenge.
So what do you think? Do we need a hotel on the moon? Express your opinion below.
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