One of my favorite investment topics to gormandize for opportunity is the emergent outer space industry. The day before Virgin Galactic Holdings ($SPCE) launched via a merger IPO, I published “Virgin E-Trade Baby Goes Galactic on Space Tourism IPO” in Oct. 2019. That stock opened at $12.34 and printed a high of $60.80 in Feb. 2021. Here are a few other articles I published that cover recent events and opportunities in the heavens above:
- “Space Force” is Now the Sixth Branch of the U.S. Military – Jun. 2018
- Are U.S. Air Force-Space Force Tic Tac UFOs Poking the Navy? – Nov. 2019
- Life Imitates Art, and SpaceMobile is Next – Dec. 2020
The first “space hotel” is slated to begin construction in low Earth orbit by 2025 and will accommodate 400 guests upon its completion in 2027. Amenities will include amazing views of Earth and outer space, a gymnasium, cinema, bars, restaurants, spacewalks, and numerous escape crafts in case SHTF. The 650-foot-wide circular habitat will rotate with an angular velocity high enough to create moon-like levels of artificial gravity for occupants and will house 24 integrated habitation modules that are 65 feet long and 40 feet wide. Some of the modules will be leased or sold to private companies and governments. The platform will welcome guest astronauts, educators, scientists, vacationers, and anyone else who wants to experience off-Earth living.
It’s the real deal and the general public can invest in the project before the end of Mar. 2021. The minimum investment is only $1.
Orbital Assembly Corp. aims to have luxury space hotel open in 2027… “The enterprise bills itself as the ‘world’s first large-scale space construction company’ and wants to produce everything from space tourism to fuel depots, telecommunications satellites and solar power stations in ‘low Earth orbit and beyond.’” – Fox Business
The Voyager Space Station (VSS, aka space hotel) will be constructed by the Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC) and is the brainchild of The Gateway Foundation, founded in 2012. When completed, the VSS will be the largest human-made structure in space. The organization plans to jumpstart and sustain a robust space construction industry and build the “important first steps to colonizing space and other worlds.” Additional low-Earth orbit projects in the pipeline include in-orbit solar power stations, fueling stations, and a gateway spaceport. The team consists of NASA veterans, pilots, engineers, and architects, and the VSS is patterned after concepts that were imagined by fabled NASA rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.
OAC Introduction… “Our vision is to create a space construction company for the design, manufacture and assembly of large structures in space, including commercial space stations, space solar power platforms, and propellant depots. To achieve this objective, we developed several design patents for in-space assembly robots. We plan to purchase capabilities from other companies as required. To enable a robust, human-centered space economy, our capabilities are geared toward the construction of a Voyager Space Station™ (VSS). We plan to build the rotating space station in stages, starting with a small-scale demonstration station, and one or more free-flying microgravity facilities, utilizing VSS components.”
The problem with building structures in outer space is the human habitation variable while constructing the VSS and other platforms in the pipeline. That is where robotics comes into the picture. A Structure Truss Assembly Robot (STAR) will fabricate the frame in orbit after a smaller ground-based prototype, known as DSTAR, is created to test the technology in California. The prototype will build a truss section roughly 300 feet in length in under 90 minutes that weighs almost 8 tons and consists of steel, electrical, and mechanical components. You can peruse The Gateway Foundation’s YouTube channel where additional details and animations about OAC are located.
The eventual costs of developing and building the VSS have not been revealed, but with the launch of the SpaceX Falcon and the SpaceX Starship, it has become more practical to put large objects into orbit at a reasonable expense.
I’m having a deja vu about Star Trek and Star Wars bar scenes.
Richard Pryor – Star Wars Bar
Plan Your Trade, Trade Your Plan
Website: TraderStef.com