Space Hotel to Offer Luxurious Tourism Experience as of 2025

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson wears his astronaut's wings at a news conference, after flying with a crew in Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane VSS Unity to the edge of space at
Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, US, July 11, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson wears his astronaut's wings at a news conference, after flying with a crew in Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane VSS Unity to the edge of space at Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, US, July 11, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
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Space Hotel to Offer Luxurious Tourism Experience as of 2025

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson wears his astronaut's wings at a news conference, after flying with a crew in Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane VSS Unity to the edge of space at
Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, US, July 11, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson wears his astronaut's wings at a news conference, after flying with a crew in Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane VSS Unity to the edge of space at Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, US, July 11, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

Plans for a new space hotel - set to open in 2025 - have been unveiled showing the plush interior with stunning views of the galaxy, according to The Mirror.

Orbital Assembly, a US-based space company, has unveiled its concept for the hotel that includes several modules connected by left shafts to make up a rotating wheel as it orbits Earth. The company hopes to launch two space stations: Voyager Station and Pioneer Station.

Pioneer Station could be made operational in just three years and can house up to 28 people. Voyager Station, which is set to open in 2027, will be made to accommodate up to 400 people at one time. The company's goal is to run a space “business park” home for offices but will also hold tourists.

The step comes as space tourism seems to truly be on the horizon. Recently, Virgin founder Richard Branson went into space as well as Star Trek actor William Shatner. However, space travel has always been seen as inaccessible to everyone apart from the wealthy.

Tim Alatorre, Orbital Assembly's CEO, told CNN Travel: “It's going to get us the opportunity to have people start to experience space on a larger scale, faster.”

The office and research spaces will be up for rent on both stations. Despite being in space, there will be what Alatorre calls the ‘comforts’ of artificial gravity, which include shows and being able to have a meal while sitting down.



Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year's most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China's eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world's land area had seen a rise in "precipitation variability" or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

"(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods," said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

"This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods."

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behavior of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

"I believe higher water vapor in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena," Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan's Nagoya University.

"In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favorable condition for tropical cyclone development," she said.

In its "blue paper" on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapor capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.