- Note - Once again Dr. David Whitehouse
and the BBC have beaten the US media to a revoluationary story involving
American scientific technology. Gene Meyers, who pioneered the concept
of 'Space Islands,' explained his bold and imaginative concept to Jeff
on 4-1-98. You can hear the program in our RealAudio archives.
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- The hotel group Hilton International
is to become the first sponsor of a privately funded plan to build a space
station. It will be constructed from used Space Shuttle fuel tanks.
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- And when the Hilton Orbital Hotel is
built, space visionary Arthur C Clark wants to be there for the opening.
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- The project, called Space Islands, will
connect together Space Shuttle fuel tanks, each the diameter of a Boeing
747 aircraft. At present they are the only part of Nasa's Space Shuttle
that is not reused.
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- British Airways are also said to want
to become involved in the project. Under consideration is a survey of BA
and Hilton customers asking them if they would like to take a holiday in
space.
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- They would be asked if they wanted it
to be entirely gravity free and if they would like large windows to view
the Earth. Would they like to take a spacewalk is another possible question.
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- "There is powerful support for this
concept in Washington," said Space Island Group director Gene Meyers.
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- He told BBC News Online "There is
no technical reason why it cannot be done."
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- The 47m (154 ft) long tanks are currently
discardedHe hopes that the project will excite major companies to sponsor
the project in the same way that they sponsor the Olympics.
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- "We need $6 - $12 billion,"
he said, "That is a fraction of the [$40bn] cost of the space station
that is currently being built by the USA, Russia and other countries."
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- The space station would be made out of
empty space shuttle fuel tanks. Currently, they are used once and allowed
to fall back to Earth, burning up in its atmosphere. However they could
easily be kept in space and outfitted as living quarters.
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- The most optimistic schedule for its
construction is six years, given the money and the will to do it.
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- "Eventually there could be several
of these space stations in orbit," says Meyers, "It would even
be possible to put one in a figure-of-eight orbit around the Earth and
the Moon. That would be quite a vacation."
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- The idea of using spent Space Shuttle
fuel tanks is not new. It was once considered by Nasa as the basis for
its own space station. However it was discarded as being too simple. It
was possibly also seen as too commercial for an organisation that sees
its role mainly in research and development.
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- Up to 100 people at a time could be ferried
up to the orbital hotel, if a second-generation space shuttle was built.
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- A C Clarke backs the projectSpace visionary
Arthur C Clarke has been an enthusiastic backer of the project for a year.
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- He was to approach film director Stanley
Kubrick to become involved. Together they designed the famous wheel-shaped
space station for the film "2001 - A Space Odyssey."
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- But Kubrick's recent death has ended
the chance for him to see his vision turned into reality.
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- It is no coincidence that in "2001
- A Space Odyssey" part of the space station is a Hilton hotel. The
hotel group paid to be part of the film. Thirty years later Arthur C Clark
has once again approached the company to be part of the new initiative.
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- "This space station could be built,
there is no reason why it can't" said Gene Meyers "all we need
is for people to find out that it can be done and then help us do it."
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