Gateway: The $75BN Space Station

the gateway foundation is planning to construct a 75 billion dollar spinning space station 400 kilometers above the earth's surface in 1952 german aerospace engineer verner von braun introduced a wild concept he imagined building a 76 meter wide wheel shaped space station that would orbit earth and that would spin have you ever been on a spinning amusement park ride well if you have then you know that when the ride rotates a force arises that pushes you outwards this is called the centrifugal force now think of gravity it is essentially a force pushing you against the ground von braun knew that by spinning his space station he would create a centrifugal force that could serve as artificial gravity people on the station's rim would be pushed outwards the walls of the space station would be the floor at first von braun's concept was popular but was too far ahead of its time to actually be built the proposal was overshadowed by the space race and in 1974 von braun passed away despite this the idea thrived in science fiction the 1968 blockbuster movie 2001 a space odyssey featured a massive wheel-shaped space station with artificial gravity then in the 1980s the world finally began searching for a feasible space station design however with few proponents von braun's concept was pushed aside in favor of simpler proposals which eventually evolved into the international space station for several decades the idea was sidelined then in 2015 an organization called the gateway foundation appeared the gateway foundation is a small group of engineers and architects with the goal of developing the world's first artificial gravity spaceport they have two station designs of different sizes the first is called the von braun class station it will have a diameter of 190 meters almost twice the length of the iss at its center will be a docking port for transportation spacecraft radiating out from the port will be four tubes and support spokes connecting to 24 habitable modules the modules will be 20 meters long with a diameter of 12 meters split into three floors they will be connected by a circular tube but will each be their own individual unit some will be for tourism and others will be rented out to companies or government agencies in between each module will be emergency earth return vehicles currently the gateway foundation is planning on using the dream chaser a space plane being developed by the sierra nevada corporation the von braun class station will initially spin at a rate of 7.5 degrees per second creating a centrifugal force that will simulate the moon's gravity which is 17 of earth's if the passengers are uncomfortable with this boosters will simply rotate the station faster creating more artificial gravity the station will run on solar panels which will cover an entire side of the outer ring the station's orbit will ensure that this side always faces the sun the von braun class station is to be assembled 400 kilometers above the earth's surface by robots from orbital assembly a subsidiary of the gateway foundation by its completion the base will host 400 people and will come with a projected cost of 75 billion us dollars once several von braun stations are established the gateway foundation plans to build a larger station called the gateway the gateway will be enormous with a diameter of 448 meters that is the same height as the willis tower in chicago usa at the gateway center will be a docking bay for earth shuttles and lunar craft around it will be the hub which will host storage environmental processing administration and the control room around the hub will be the lga or lunar gravity area in this sector the station's rotation will simulate the gravity of the moon it will serve as a massive space hotel equipped with an open-air gym a japanese garden a food court a casino and a vertical garden on the sector's outer rim will be a layer of 300 soundproof hotel rooms there will also be escape vehicles in case of an emergency four tubes will connect the lga to the outermost sector the mga or mars gravity area in this sector the station's rotation will simulate the gravity of mars which is 38 of earth's it will mostly consist of private residences for nearly 1 000 people the gateway like the von braun station will be constructed by robots 400 kilometers above the surface once completed it will host 1 400 people and will cost hundreds of billions of dollars with launch costs rapidly dropping in the space industry quickly developing these stations could potentially be built in the near future the gateway foundation is very ambitious it hopes to start construction on a von braun station by 2025. despite this there are many significant problems first of all how will a tiny startup with less than 10 employees raise 75 billion dollars the gateway foundation wants to start a global lottery with the prizes being tickets to the space station however this would face legal trouble in the u.s only state-sponsored lotteries are allowed in addition it's doubtful that people would even participate a more realistic approach would be pre-selling tickets to the wealthy however this would bar everyday people from the station in addition there are technical problems how would the station remove heat or deal with space debris strikes there are plans yet much is still unclear the gateway foundation's plans are grand and ambitious however it is still a tiny startup with no major backers it reminds me of mars one a private company who promised to get humans on mars but ultimately declared bankruptcy and was dissolved in 2019. hopefully the gateway foundation does not have the same fate ultimately its success comes down to demand the space industry has been stuck in low earth orbit for 50 years and is now just getting out the likelihood that we'll see a massive low earth orbit structure in the near future is low despite this the gateway foundation certainly provides a glimpse of what our future could be 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Channel: Futurology

Views: 70,044

Rating: 4.8945551 out of 5

Keywords: Gateway foundation, gateway, von braun station, space station, artificial gravity, megaproject, spacex, starship, futurology, wernher von braun, space hotel, dream chaser

Id: 2QI7z46LWLY

Length: 8min 20sec (500 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 10 2020