Orion Span

Orion Span is a Houston based commercial space agency aiming to become the first company to place luxury hotel in space. The company plans to build and deploy a modular space station named “Aurora Space Station” for commercial accommodation, scientific research and manufacturing. However, as of 2019, the company is still seeking seed funding. Individuals can register on the company’s website to join the wait list to become space tourists with a deposit of $80,000 per person. Escrow and cryptocurrency are the payment methods available. The company is competing with current and upcoming space agencies like Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and Gateway Foundation.

Project

Orion Span plans to begin commercial trips to space starting in 2022 with its Aurora Station. However, as of 2019, it has not yet announced any contract with launch providers. In December 2017, it announced a campaign to raise $2 million of seed funding through crowdfunding site seedinvest. The campaign failed as it was able to raise $235,000 of the $2 million goal. The company deleted the crowdfunding page and any mention of the campaign from its website.

The crowdfunding page included plans to rent its on-orbit capacity to astronauts, tourists, and research organizations. The rates for the different markets were:

• Astronaut services - $60M per head, for 30 days.
• Space Tourists - $9.5 to $39.5M per head, for 12 days.
• Space Research - $95k per rack slot per month.

Initial Design

Artists impression of Aurora Space station

The Aurora Station accommodation module will be approximately 12 feet wide and 35 feet long similar to a private jet.

The station’s initial compartment module is expected to host four tourists and two crew members at a time for 12 days. The company expects to add additional compartment modules as docks to initial design as the company grows.