You can now reserve a hotel room on the Moon

A new startup, GRU Space, has announced plans to build habitable structures on the Moon. This includes a luxury hotel inspired by San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts. Recently, the company opened a reservation window. They invited prospective space tourists to place deposits between $250,000 and $1 million. These deposits are for missions set to launch in six years.

Founded by recent UC Berkeley graduate Skyler Chan and backed by Y Combinator, GRU (Galactic Resource Utilization) aims to create a “third pillar” of space activity focused on tourism. While government agencies and wealthy companies control current lunar missions, Chan believes tourism will drive a sustainable future in space

“SpaceX is building the FedEx to get us there, right?” Chan said. “But there has to be a destination worthy of staying in. Obviously, there are all kinds of debates around this, and what the future is going to be like.”

“But our conviction is that the fundamental problem we have to solve, to advance humans toward the Moon and Mars, is off-world habitation. We can’t keep everyone living on that first ship that sailed to North America, right? We have to build the roads, structures, and offices that we live in today,” he added.

Despite currently operating with a skeletal staff, GRU Space has outlined a bold technical roadmap. The company intends to launch a demonstration mission in 2029. This mission will send a 10-kilogram payload to the lunar surface. It aims to test inflatable structure capabilities and a method for converting lunar regolith into “Moon bricks” using geopolymers.

Following this, a larger mission will target a “lunar pit” to test scaled-up resource development.

GRU Space plans to launch its initial inflatable hotel in 2032, designing the structure to accommodate four guests.

This project aims to lay the groundwork for permanent, architecturally advanced structures on the moon using local materials. Despite challenges like radiation shielding and life support systems, Chan highlights that establishing a desirable destination is crucial for the space economy.

GRU Space plans to enhance its technology and business model this year by participating in Y Combinator’s accelerator program.