1) Twenty years from now, where wil

1) Twenty years from now, where will the most innovative new hotel be built? Mainland Europe, as the UK construction industry is finally integrated into Euroland? Possibly. Africa, as developing nations look to grab their share of tourist dollars? Maybe. Or will it be, as Howard Wolff predicts, 200 miles above the Earth's surface in a space hotel? (2)Wolff is Vice-President of international design consultancy Wimberly Allison Tong Et Goo, whose projects include the Wedding Pavilion at Florida's Walt Disney World. He is convinced the market will take off, so he is investing a substantial proportion of his company's research and development (R&D) budget into researching the needs of space tourists. "lt's important that we are in the forefront when the space race actually happens! Wolff has one significant advantage in the race to build space hotels. He has got the second man to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, working as a consultant on the project. (3) European and Asian companies are also becoming interested in space tourism. Last year, Daimler Chrysler and Germany's domestic spac announced plans to build a bed and breakfast 300 miles above terra firma by 2020. In the same week, Japanese concem Shimizu announced plans for a space hotel to cater for 64 tourists at a time (4) The race to create hotels in space may just be starting, but bookings are already being made for accommodation in future space hotels. What will a space hotel be like, people wonder? Howard Wolff's team envisages a resort based on a spinning wheel. The rim of the wheel will provide the hotel's accommodation pods house its activities. The hote s expected to cater for about and the central hub w 100 guests, as well as support staff. Guests will dine on food grown on board (5) One requirement for the designers is that it allows people to experience weightlessness. But some form of artificial gravity will be required so that guests can leep without being strapped to their beds. They will also want to eat without having to chase food around the room artificial gravity is necessary to prevent space sickness, which affects more than 50% of all astronauts US space startup company Bigelow Aerospace has also seen the potential for hotels in space, but with a completely different design: expandable space station modules. An expandable module is a space structure that has a flexible outer shell When it is in orbit, the module is inflated, creating a larger work, play and living area for astronauts. The expandable modules were designed by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) for a space programme. When this was cancelled, Bigelow Aerospace was given the right to commercialise some of the technology. A major advantage of inflatable modules is that the walls are flexible which is better than rigid ones for protecting a module from the impact of space debris. The expandable modules could be used for space tourism and for orbital hotels. Bigelow plans to launch in the near future an orbital resort, which will probably be called CSS (Commercial Space Station) Skywalker