News that Premier Inn plans to open the first hotel on the moon reached us last week, with no detectable traces of irony (perhaps we couldn't see the sarcastic wood for the trees). Well, I guess if you”re heading that way, you'll probably blow most of your budget on the flight so a low-cost roof over your head might be just the ticket. Perhaps it will be self-catering too.
The company claims it has purchased 4,040 sq m of moon (if it's still imperial out there, that's 43,500 sq ft) - from whom is unclear - and engineers are hard at work on blueprints so construction can begin and the doors thrown open to ” who? Virgin Galactic customers and passing extra terrestrials? ” within 25 years.
”Given the pace of space exploration and transportation possibilities beyond earth”s atmosphere, we feel that it is now more feasible than ever to expect travel to and from the moon to become a common occurrence within the next 20-30 years,” says Premier Inn MD Patrick Dempsey. ”We wanted to steal a march on our rivals and be the first hotel chain to offer people the chance to have very comfortable and affordable lunar accommodation.”
Premier”s construction director, Alex Flach, has been heading up a special team working in conjunction with Dr John Griffiths, freelance lecturer of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, to address the many issues of building on the moon”s surface and providing customers with a comfortable stay.
Flach added: ”The challenges are unique and no doubt as we learn more about the moon from NASA”s Lunar Reconnaisance Orbitor mission scheduled to launch in October 2008, we will adapt and improve our designs further.”
Decide for yourself what kind of powerful cheeses these people are chomping to even dream up such an announcement. Or perhaps too much moonshine has been taken.