LEGEND
Click on the linked titles below to see cross-sections and animations.
(You can drag the presentations around with your mouse in the title bar - they will be parked in your monitor's status bar, when scrolling this page)

1. ASSIMILATION ROOM: This is where the guests arrive and leave the spotel and also can return during their stay to "play" with being weightless. Quite peculiar effects occur between the body having contact with any wall, or not having it. One could also call this the 'Newton Room', as Newton's first and second law come in practice here. Actually, Newton's first law applies noticeably in the whole of the spotel. Guests are adviced not to 'jump', or otherwise loose contact with the floor, or with whatever they are standing on (stairs), because then their bodies will drift away sidewise and may cause 'inconvenient' collisions with objects around. The assimilation room can also be used by visiting trainee-astronauts, to gain experience with the conditions of weightlessness (an extra source of income).
   

   
   
2. DOCKING SLUICE: The space-shuttle docks in here. On approaching the docking sluice, the space-shuttle brings itself in aligned axial rotation with the spotel (with small jets, not shown in the animation). In the entrance collar of the sluice are circular, compressive rings, against which the nose of the shuttle will be pressed and by friction adjusts what ever difference in axial rotational speed there is between the spotel and the shuttle. This will be completed before the opening dome-sections finally press against the shaped inner walls of the sluice, by which the shuttle is locked in the spotel. A corridor tunnel moves out from the shuttle to slide over the entrance port in the bottom of the assimilation room and that is equipped with self-energizing lip seals. Then the tunnel is pressurized (energizing the seals) and the hatch to the assimilation room can be opened, to gain access to the spotel's interior
   
   The sluice itself should rather not be pressurized (to atmospheric), because then a force of around 60 metric tons would work on the shuttle, to push it out - no locking /sealing mechanism would be reliable under such conditions and besides, it would require a too "heavy" construction. On undocking, the tunnel withdraws, letting the air inside it expand into the sluice and while the dome sections are closing, the escaping air (now on rather low pressure) will give the shuttle a slight push "down", so it moves away from the spotel. There are pressurized air bottles on board of the spotel, that will restore the according loss of air (an automatic control system keeps the air pressure in the interior on a constant value).

   The spotel may orbit at an altitude of 300 miles and more (500+ km) and though the Earth's atmosphere is extremely thin there, it is still thick enough to drag on the spotel and slow it down. As the spotel slows down, it loses altitude. In addition to atmospheric drag, solar flares also slow the spotel down and cause it to lose altitude. So the spotel will need to be boosted periodically to maintain its proper altitude and this will be done by the docked shuttle on arrival, while the leaving guests and crew are seated in special seats, placed on the "wall" of the corridor, that will become a "floor" during the boosting action. After boosting, the arriving guest can enter the spotel and the leaving guests take their place in the shuttle.
   
   

3. CORRIDOR: This is a torus-shaped space, connecting all the external sections together (just two, in the basic version shown here). There is no 'flat' floor and when walking around, one feels like walking 'up the curved walls', rather than on a floor. If one jumps straight up a little, one will land a few feet ahead, forwards or backward, depending what direction one is facing. This is not advisable though, as one tends to fall flat down and as one "weighs" only around a ten pounds or so, it's easy to jump through the 'ceiling'! One should walk 'with care'. Nevertheless, this also is an exciting "play" area. Btw, if there would be a poole table there, one would have to re-learn the game. The "floor" behaves flat, though it is curved, whereas the pool table behaves as being curved, though it is flat - a curved pool table would bring the game back to "normal" again. See here what strange effecs occur with freely moving objects in a rotating space station.
   
   
4. STORAGE AND SUPPLIES DECK: Here are the food and other supplies to serve the guests during their stay. Also other equipment, such as pressurized air bottles, etc can be stored here. There is a spiral stair case connecting the subsequent decks and suite section.
   
   
5. CREW DECK Here is where maximum two crew members can be accommodated. If not needed in each section, the remaining accommodation can be used for visiting trainee-astronauts and/or less paying, 'second class' guests. There is a work station here for administration, communications with Earth-base and controls for climate and other systems.
   
   
6. DINING DECK What's a hotel without a restaurant? Thus, one of the crew members is a cook-housekeeper-maid, serving the guests accordingly. The guests can also eat in their suites, by ordering dinner from 'upstairs'. I have provided the option of a goods elevator in the center of the spiral stair case - perhaps overdoing things, but the option is there. Otherwise, the spiral stair could be made somewhat smaller in diameter, leaving more space in the upper decks. However, I have thought to accommodate even rather big, fat people (not being 'overweight' on board of the spotel) and then the stairs shouldn't be too narrow. The view window at the dinette table may not be feasible, because it's dark outside and so it should be dark inside, to see anything at all (unless the sun is at that side). Moreover, any window is a safety risk, but I included it anyway as an option (dinner by candle-light, looking at the moon?).
   
   
7. SUITE SECTION: This is the luxury part, complete with bed- and bathroom, an additional toilet, internet computer, living room with TV/video and panorama room to view the scene on Earth. The single beds are thought to be two-story ones each, but of course, one could think of some suite section(s) with a queen-size double bed as well (for double-paying couples - what a honeymoon!).
   

CENTRAL SECTION - A: Half-torus shaped water tanks. Insulated outwards, but in thermal contact with the (warm) interior.
CENTRAL SECTION - B: Torus shaped liquid oxygen tank, refilled with shuttle-supplies.
CENTRAL SECTION - C: man sluice. A rescue team can enter the spotel here, or trainee astronauts can use it for 'space-walks'. Advanced guests could do the same, however, it is tricky, because of the rotational motion of the spotel. A person leaving the sluice, while keeping hand-contact with it, would on releasing contact, drift away side-wise and a connecting life-line would 'wind up' around the sluice. This can be trained in the center of the assimilation room. Also in this sluice there will be an air loss into free space, compensated by compressed air in bottles on board.
CENTRAL SECTION - D: Life support system. This system filters out carbonates and other impurities and restores the oxygen level of used air. It also may purify waste water, to become reusable for bathing and cooking. Sewage from the (vacuum) toilets are collected in vacuum tanks and once these reach a maximum allowable pressure, they are blown empty into free space (where the stuff evaporates into atoms, never to be seen again).

GENERAL: The yellow parts in the section images indicate the special, light-weight design structure, that I have in mind. Instead of expensive composite materials, such as kevlar and the like, the outer and inner hulls could be made of rather thin aluminum sheets, yet on a steel frame in locations where forces are largest (section joints and openings). The space in between is injected with polystyrene foam, that not only gives a very large stiffness, but also a very good thermal insulation, a "sandwich" construction. Moreover, in space there is always the risk of collision with meteorites, traveling at speeds of tens of miles per second and faster. The size of a pie would be enough to hit through a steel plate. When the foam thickness is around 8 inches and more in several locations, where there is "dead space" to fill out, a point-load on the inner hull can be avoided, the foam diverting the impact energy over a larger volume. Last but not least, the rotating motion of the spotel substantially minimizes the probability of meteorite hits (the same principle as that it is more difficult to shoot a jumping rabbit, than a sitting duck).

Of course, windows are actually an unacceptable risk, unless they are very small. One could think of electronic screens instead and cameras outside, but that would not bring the "excitement" people want - they might as well sit at home on Earth and watch their movie theatre. Thus, windows it must be, just find a "safe" design (for example double-glass windows with low-pressure gas in between), strong enough to hold the forces that are (10 metric tons per square meter of glass, at 1 bar pressure difference). The "atmospheric" pressure inside the spotel also could be kept lower than on Earth, minimizing the loads on windows and the whole of the structure (no guests with high blood pressure, though).

As mentioned before, the spotel exists of the sections described above, that can be launched separately into orbit and assembled there. This is shown in the animation on the left. The suite sections are 40 feet long and 12 feet in diameter. The service sections are 26 feet long and also 12 feet in diameter. The central section is the largest part, with 33.5 feet in diameter and 26 feet high, exclusive the man sluice, mast and power station, that are assembled in orbit as well. Also the assimilation and docking unit could be launched separately, so the central unit could be brought up in parts (not shown). The mast and power unit are free size, the latter containing nuclear material and two electric generators, so the one can take over from the other in case of failure. Naturally, essential electric equipment is backed up with batteries and an emergency shuttle is always in stand-by on the space port, for immediate launch.

As to collisions. It is not only meteorites, which actually constitute the minor risk. The major one is all the junk that has been brought in orbit during the last decades and that whirl around Earth in unknown orbits. Many of those finally enter the atmosphere and burn up there, but a large number still goes around - I have heard figures of several thousands. A collision which any such junk, could result in the total defunction of the spotel and naturally, cause death casualties - the end of "business" as well. Therefore a spotel should be placed into an orbit far away from regularly used ones, which means rather high, 500 miles or more, so its orbit will not cross the main junk belt on lower altitudes.

FUTURE OUTLOOKS:

How about a spotel in a loop-orbit around Earth and Moon? Once it is brought in that orbit, it will continuously round Earth and Moon once every week. In a later development, a space-shuttle, docked t o the spotel (and allowing it to make eventual course corrections as well, or even to make an escape-flight back to Earth, in case something goes dangerously wrong), could be designed as such, that it can land on the Moon, where there is a base-hotel (moonotel) and that can bring the guests back to the spotel, when it returns to round the Moon a week later.

Such a moonotel could be build up of the same units as the spotel, just with some modifications and in a different configuration. Well, the first moonotel in place will take at least two decades from now, but technically we could do it already today; it's just the economics, that wouldn't allow it as yet. However, it isn't all that easy, even with future technology, because the vacuum conditions on the  Moon cause a major temperature regulation problem, largely ignored by all prospecting websites and articles (from what I have seen on the web). Read more about it here  the first Science Vision book (as opposed to Science Fiction) at last.

I have designed a base unit for Moon setlements, a moonotel, that is a further development of the spotel as presented here. I used the same modules in an other configuration as to keep a unified manufacturing program. Once a spotel is built, only a little more is needed to build a Moonotel also, eventually expanding into settlement compounds and complete Moon cities. I made an impression on a wallpaper, that you can download for your desktop (click the preview image - three sizes to choose from).

With this I have come to the end of the description of my rough ideas. As it can be expected, it will take ten to fifteen years before whatever first spotel will be in orbit, but it is in no way too early to start designing already. I have the slight (or naive) hope the first spotel in orbit will look like what I presented here - not an "enhanced" copy of the present space-lab, where people float around each other, hitting their heads on everything around. If my ideas are adopted by the promoters of space-tourism, I hope to get involved in the detailed design and hopefully, one day go up in orbit myself. But please hurry, cause I'm 61 already!!

For Engineering Assignments, please contact me

Want to see the spotel in action (again)? click here