Orbital Assembling Corporation (OAC) has announced new details on Project Voyager, the world’s first commercial space station powered by artificial gravity.
Previously, OAC, a company specializing in space colonization, mentioned the Voyager station during the virtual event “First Assembly” held on 29/1. This project was born many years ago. John Blincow founded the Gateway Association in 2012. The organization’s plans include starting and sustaining the space construction industry, first with the Voyager station and the Gateway commercial space station. The OAC was founded by engineers at the Gateway Association in 2018 to make this goal a reality. The OAC includes former NASA employees, pilots, engineers and architects. Their goal is to assemble a “space hotel” in low earth orbit, spinning fast enough to generate artificial gravity for tourists, scientists, astronauts in training and anyone else who wants to experience extraterrestrial life.
The Voyager station was inspired by the design of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, one of the experts behind NASA’s Apollo project. This 200m wide wheel-shaped living space would spin at an angular speed high enough to create artificial gravity like on the Moon. Designed by Tim Alatorre, board member and chief engineer of the Gateway Association, the Voyager station will become the largest man-made building in the universe, fully equipped to accommodate up to 400 people. Assembly will begin around 2025. The station will have many facilities such as themed restaurants, tourist areas, cinemas, concert halls, bars, libraries, gymnasiums and spas.
Voyager Station will consist of 24 living modules, each measuring 20 meters long and 12 meters wide. Before the station can begin to operate, contractors must put the necessary infrastructure in place and create a smaller structure for design testing. Blincow explained that the current plan is to build a phased orbiting space station, starting with a small prototype station, as well as a free-flight microgravity facility, using Voyager components.
The Link Structure Assembly (STAR) robot builds the structure of Voyager and Gateway stations in orbit. Before that, however, a smaller prototype of a robot called DSTAR will test the technology on Earth. The machine will be completed and tested in California, USA. DSTAR can produce 90m long bracing frames in less than 90 minutes. With a volume of nearly 8 tonnes, DSTAR is made up of metallic, electrical and mechanical components.
Before the Voyager station could carry passengers, the OAC had to build a low-earth orbit station to examine the feasibility of artificial gravity. They plan to create a prototype ring 61 meters in diameter with artificial gravity similar to that of Mars, or about 40% of gravity on Earth. This gravity ring takes 2-3 years to build and launch into space.
