Moon hotel startup hopes you get lunar lunacy, drop $1M deposit for 2032 stay
- Reference: 1768337409
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/13/moon_hotel_startup_reservation/
- Source link:
For the low, low deposit cost of either $250,000 or $1 million, depending on the option selected, you can get in on the inflatable ground floor of GRU's definitely-going-to-happen inflatable Moon hotel, which it said it wants to have deployed by 2032.
Don't expect to foot the bill of a private five-day lunar expedition for you and up to three others for the meager deposit cost, though.
[1]
"Final pricing has not yet been determined will likely exceed $10 million," the company states on its [2]reservation website. Yes, we know that sentence is missing either a coordinating conjunction or some critical punctuation. Cut GRU a break - it's too busy brainstorming Moon hotels to run its website copy through a grammar checker.
[3]
[4]
For those hoping the company has a more grounded explanation of its Moon hotel fantasy elsewhere on its website, sorry - a " [5]whitepaper " included on the site is just as fantasy-filled and hyperbolic as the rest of its corporate persona.
"GRU Space rejects the notion that we must wait for external validation or government consensus to build the future," the company says in its whitepaper introduction, echoing a philosophy that's never been problematic in the history of [6]tourist endeavors in hazardous environments . "Instead, we operate on the principle that conviction must bridge the gap between the status quo and the necessary future." As anyone who saw 2001: A Space Odyssey knows, lunar hotels are absolutely a necessary part of the future.
[7]
GRU intends to first build an inflatable space hotel - the one it wants to have up by 2032 - which will follow a projected 2029 mission that will deploy a miniature version of the hotel along with a miniature drill unit, used to collect a sample of regolith as part of the company’s plan to use in-situ resources.
A second mission in 2031 will deploy a slightly larger test hotel in a lunar pit, where it imagines its eventual full-sized hotel to be inflated due to the protection from micrometeoroids and radiation the lava tube openings provide. The 2031 mission will also include more in-situ resource testing, and the first full-sized hotel will be deployed in 2032.
Once it gets its full-sized, inflatable, four-person hotel built, GRU said it plans to start work on a much fancier 10-person unit built from polymerized lunar regolith that it said will be based on the San Francisco [8]Palace of Fine Arts .
[9]
GRU's Moon hotel, version 2, which will be built from polymerized lunar regolith - Click to enlarge
Even the first-generation full-sized hotel, however, will require a SpaceX Starship-sized craft to get it to the Moon, the company said in its whitepaper. Chalk that up as [10]yet another catch that could slow the company down.
The company also doesn't appear to have ownership rights to any of the Moon's surface on which to build anything at all, yet still hopes it will be part of NASA Administrator [11]Jared Isaacman's [12]professed Moon base plans, which GRU believes will necessitate commercial partnerships - and dual-use facilities like a Moon hotel.
[13]
"If the U.S. must field a base within the decade, there is no time to invent exotic, bespoke government-only infrastructure from scratch," GRU asserts in its whitepaper. "We believe the only viable path is to lean heavily on commercial hardware and dual-use surface systems with real unit economics."
[14]UK and US lack regulation to protect space tourists from cosmic ray dangers
[15]NASA panel fears a Starship lunar touchdown is more fantasy than flight plan
[16]We'll beat China to the Moon, NASA nominee declares
[17]Ex-NASA chief: China likely to land humans on Moon before Uncle Sam does again
The company seems to believe that it's going to have "revenue sovereignty," unlike a government agency, thanks to its ability to "tap into high-net-worth private capital" and its marketing of a product people will actually want. That, and "the AI explosion is also creating a new source of ultra wealth," the company said, making this sound more like a scam to separate gullible tech bros from their bank account balances than a concrete plan for lunar tourism.
"By anchoring our roadmap to a commercial product with intrinsic demand … we end-run competitors who are waiting for NASA to request a shovel," GRU said.
With an incredibly small customer base, a whitepaper more full of assumptions, assertions, and Despicable Me–themed hyperbole (“It’s time to steal the Moon” - really?) than actual technical details, and a website that suggests the company is more interested in selling Moon hotel merchandise than putting an actual [18]date on the "dawn of lunar tourism," there's a lot of skepticism warranted.
That, and there's no mention of how the hotel is going to be staffed - with that in mind, and no publicly-stated difference between the two reservation packages, perhaps paying the higher price might be worth it?
GRU Space didn't respond to questions for this story. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aWlxotVzn-LdNQvyUi9spAAAAxU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.gru.space/reserve
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aWlxotVzn-LdNQvyUi9spAAAAxU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aWlxotVzn-LdNQvyUi9spAAAAxU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.gru.space/wp
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/22/oceangate_titanic_titan_sub_implosion/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aWlxotVzn-LdNQvyUi9spAAAAxU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://palaceoffinearts.com/
[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2026/01/13/gru-moon-hotel-2.jpg
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/21/spacex_super_heavy_mishap/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/18/isaacman_given_nod_as_nasa/
[12] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/26/nasa-boss-isaacman-us-will-return-to-the-moon-within-trumps-term.html
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aWlxotVzn-LdNQvyUi9spAAAAxU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/11/uk_and_us_lack_regulation/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/22/nasa_starship_artemis_doubts/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/04/beat_china_moon_nasa_nominee/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/04/jim_bridenstine_nasa_moon/
[18] https://www.gru.space/reserve#:~:text=Dawn%20of%20Lunar,first%20lunar%20hotel.
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: That moon regolith is nasty, sharp stuff
Yes its sharp but there is no wind to kick it up, and the pieces are tiny. Unless you do something that puts dust on it and there is something that constantly rubs that dust I don't see how you could make a hole.
I think inflatable is stupid because of radiation. Even in a crater shadow you are exposed to interstellar radiation (plus an inflatable anything at such cold temperatures isn't going to do that well) You want your lunar hotel in a lava tube, or man made tunnel, so you have a few meters of regolith protecting you from the radiation.
Re: That moon regolith is nasty, sharp stuff
I expect you're correct about radiation -- at least for long term stays. Inflatable? I'm not so sure. No atmosphere, zero humidity, and lunar regolith is said to be a lousy thermal conductor. The only ways to lose heat are via radiation and conduction thru that regolith. I wouldn't be surprised that an inflatable structure built of low emissivity material could remain flexible enough to inflate for hours, days, maybe weeks or months.
All moot of course. This is a whacky concept even by current concepts of what is realistically achievable (which seem to me to be quite bizarre).
Re: That moon regolith is nasty, sharp stuff
Yes its sharp but there is no wind to kick it up, and the pieces are tiny.
Ah, but there will be wind-equivalents. Like dust plumes kicked up by landing (or falling) Starships. And the dust is really abrasive given the lack of wind & water to weather it.
I think inflatable is stupid because of radiation. Even in a crater shadow you are exposed to interstellar radiation (plus an inflatable anything at such cold temperatures isn't going to do that well) You want your lunar hotel in a lava tube, or man made tunnel, so you have a few meters of regolith protecting you from the radiation.
I think there are many levels of stupid, or 'forward looking statements' that have to be solved before any influencer could flog OnlyClangers videos from the Moon. Like having a working, reliable Starship. Which can then transfer space tourists from the top of the rocket to the surface, and then back again. So some EVA required. Then how to get tourists safely from LZ to the inflatable, dust them off thoroughly and back again. Then boring details like what to do if/when the inflatable springs a leak, staffing, supplying etc etc. Some certainties though, like if a space tourist even looks at the mini-bar, it'll cost them even more than it would in Vegas.
But I agree on burial. It would seem much easier to just bury Starships that have their payload space pre-configured to end up horizontal and could be joined together to form the beginnings of a lunar base. Then get the lunarcrete batch plants kicking out prefab components that can make an expanded one that may or may not have facilities for tourists.
Re: That moon regolith is nasty, sharp stuff
Like dust plumes kicked up by landing (or falling) Starships
Well I certainly don't want to be in an inflatable anything close enough to where something is landing for dust in a vacuum it kicked up to impact it!
Re: That moon regolith is nasty, sharp stuff
"Like dust plumes kicked up by landing (or falling) Starships."
The chances of that might be quite low for the foreseeable future. A Blue lander, OTOH........
Re: That moon regolith is nasty, sharp stuff
Too scientific...
You're not thinking within the realms of reality.
I know exactly how you create a hole.
It only takes one billionaire to drag a few particles in on their boots that can eventually get stuck to someone, then two pervert billionaires at the lunar sex party fucking against a wall in the Epstein suite to pop it.
We don't know for sure if this kind of thing will happen in a moon hotel for the super rich...but statistically speaking, the person on Earth with the highest probability of being the first rich person to fuck on the moon is Bill Clinton.
Re: That moon regolith is nasty, sharp stuff
It only takes one billionaire to drag a few particles in on their boots that can eventually get stuck to someone, then two pervert billionaires at the lunar sex party fucking against a wall in the Epstein suite to pop it.
Anyone who's ever gotten frisky on a beach knows that sand gets everywhere, including places you'd rather it didn't. Which may mean bringing interesting inflammation, irritation and future cancer causation back to the gravity well and end up in future medical journals. Given space tourism is going to be the domain of the rich & shameless, de-anonymising patient information would likely be easy, and perhaps entertaining.
Re: That moon regolith is nasty, sharp stuff
"Unless you do something that puts dust on it and there is something that constantly rubs that dust I don't see how you could make a hole."
One of the few technical things that are plausible in The Martian was the airlock blowing out after being used so often. Any inflatable balloon on the moon will expand and contract while rubbing on a bed of broken glass.
Radiation is an issue. Maintaining a livable temp will be an issue. Anything hitting the moon isn't slowed down or burned up by an atmosphere first.
Schlepping a bouncy castle to anyplace off-Earth is a dicey proposition and comes with loads of risk.
I love space scams. Asking non-banking entities for a loan to build something is already an obvious scam, then add "but in space!" just makes me chuckle.
Fools
And their money
Are easily parted.
Obvious scam, but since its targeting the obnoxiously wealthy, it's fine with me.
Re: Fools
The company will fold before 2030 and the deposits will disappear into the ether of course.
But the people who pay these deposits won't miss the money - it is small change to them.
Re: Fools
I'm not sure.
I'd be perfectly happy with the rich getting scammed as long as the money ended up going towards some cause that seeks somehow to repair some of the damage done by the marks unwitting donors in the first place.
When it's merely the rich scamming each other for personal gain (and as likely as not without the full amount of VAT being paid), I can't really summon up much enthusiasm for it.
Anyone who falls for this type of scam just deserves it at this point. This is not scamming an elderly lady for her life savings. This is getting some rich moron to bankroll an impossible project.
That's not a moon..... It's a space station. And by space station we of course mean an AI rendering of one and some vague talk of passenger rides with spacex if we're still trading in a few years *
* We won't be.
To me it seems pretty churlish to shoot down ideas about establishing a presence on the moon, which by definition they must be somewhat far fetched. And please, “doesn’t have ownership rights”? Maybe you want to expand on that bald assertion, starting with explaining who has, and who hasn’t, “ownership rights” on the moon. And the basis for that claim.
And please, “doesn’t have ownership rights”? Maybe you want to expand on that bald assertion, starting with explaining who has, and who hasn’t, “ownership rights” on the moon. And the basis for that claim.
Sure, if you need it. The basis is the [1]Outer Space Treaty . Relevant portions of the summary read and their significance is:
"States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities": So they will need permission from at least one government, almost certainly the one that launches all their stuff, to do that, and
"States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects": That permission is going to come with some big strings attached to prevent that liability from being invoked since their hotel runs a significant risk of contaminating the moon, and
"outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means": their ability to retain control and ownership of their hotel if they landed it isn't going to work the way they think it does.
[1] https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html
Outer Space Treaty ?
And what in the last twelve months leads you to believe that the US would adhere to the terms of this treaty any more than any other ?
Re: Outer Space Treaty ?
Mostly the fact that this company only operates for its own purposes and doesn't have anywhere near the money to make any politician care about what it wants the rules to be. Several countries ignore provisions they don't care about, but usually for nationally significant projects like anti-satellite tests (China mostly but some others) and getting the first big LEO internet satellite constellation regardless of the risks (US) and getting the second such constellation (a few countries in a race) because, if I had to guess, they're assuming that someone will stop this but the first movers will get grandfathered in.
A hotel set up by people who don't have a clue how to do it or fund it isn't likely to be the same. I don't think any country is going to break the treaty for these guys' benefit.
Re: Outer Space Treaty ?
" I don't think any country is going to break the treaty for these guys' benefit."
Once there's a real possibility of things such as off-Earth habitats, the existing space treaties are going to wind up being re-written. The "maybe someday in the future" date will arrive with different attitudes and politics. The benefit might be as a flag-of-convenience base for the sponsoring nation if it helps them catch up with the US, Russia, China, India and Japan that have space programs that might be able to accomplish a permanent presence on/in the moon.
Re: Outer Space Treaty ?
86 comments on an article about inflatable space tents and not a single hit for Bigelow?
[1]https://www.theregister.com/2013/11/15/bigelow_moon_un_outer_space_treaty/
"Bigelow Aerospace, sellers of inflatable bubble habitats for infinity and beyond, is filing for an amendment to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to allow private individuals to own sections of the Moon."
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2013/11/15/bigelow_moon_un_outer_space_treaty/
Is a commercial enterprise building a moon hotel a ‘’national space activity”? I don’t think so. National space activities are things done by or at the behest of a nation.
Then go and read the history of existing space law, because the answer is that those do still count, partially because launches are authorized by the government of the state. We don't have to argue about it.
I admire your trust in human nature
That treaty has always been a dead letter. Tell me, what formal complaint has EVER been filed by one country against another under it?
Look, the ideas are (mostly) good, but as soon as actual commercialization of orbital space got going, additional laws got going, and not always in accordance.
Big money pays for the big guns. That's not going to change.
Churlish
Given enough time I am certain Lunar tourism will take off. This one-man-band might sell some reservations but he lacks the knowledge of an enthusiastic amateur and does not come remotely close to the skill set required to actually build anything on the Moon. The schedule is so rapid that it would require the intelligence of a president to be fooled. I think that is rather the point of the white paper. Skyler Chan does not want to waste time courting investors who will spot a non-starter before parting with money.
Re: Churlish
It really really will not! Bit like undersea "tourism". OTOH a lot of rich idiots might get blown up on the pad (https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2026/01/14/isro_pslv_mission_fail/) so there is at least a potential upside. But no, it will not happen.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_potential#Unit_and_numerical_values, and beware of Elon's private meteorite storm on the way.
Re: Churlish
My background is physics so I know what gravitational potential is. I checked your link anyway. Now you have me convinced... you add random links to your posts instead of links that support your opinion.
Re: Churlish
OK so you know how cheap & safe it is to send "tourists" into space. Good.
Re: Churlish
I may have misunderstood your comment, but it seems like you're saying:
"It won't happen... but on the upside some people might die."
Have I misunderstood?
Re: Churlish
Yes
Re: Churlish
Yes
Really?
To quote your post: "OTOH a lot of rich idiots might get blown up on the pad (https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2026/01/14/isro_pslv_mission_fail/) so there is at least a potential upside."
It seems like you're saying the potential of 'a lot' of people getting 'blown up' on the pad is a 'potential upside'.
What did you actually mean by this?
Re: Churlish
That the existence of fewer billionaires is a net benefit for the rest of us, is how I read it.
Re: Churlish
I mean that anyone who seriously things space tourism will work is retarded. When rich people start getting killed, that will be it.
Did the submarine reference just whizz by above your head? FFS!
Do you seriously think the cost of hauling rockets & fuel out of the gravity well will decrease with "passenger" volume, or something?
This is a stupid fantasy, please explain why you are not getting it.
Re: Churlish
"Given enough time I am certain Lunar tourism will take off. "
Yes, and will likely start the same way as people booking trips to ISS. The cost will be so high that the pool of people that could even go once is vanishingly small.
If commercial enterprises are found to be profitable, there will be more non-governmental people going and those that really want to visit the moon might build the credentials to get those sorts of jobs where they could be selected. Those people will be cleaning loos and doing laundry/chores along with everybody else, not preening tourists that will expect those things to be done for them.
Surely you mean bold assertion and not bald assertion.
Oh and it’s not churlish to point out dangerous flaws in a plan!
Well the thread is actually titled "churlish" so WTF did the OP expect ;)
I've got a certificate somewhere that tells me I own an acre of the Moon. So they'd better not land or put it on my bit.
Ripe for a Zork bork
So let me get this straight: A hotel in a Colossal Cave that will doubtless turn into a maze of twisted little passages (all different) where the newly impoverished tech bros will be killed by a GRUe.
Re: Ripe for a Zork bork
.. where the newly impoverished tech bros will be killed by a GRUe.
Don't build it on the Pink Floyd side of the Moon and it'll be fine. Probably. Unless another GRU sneaks someone up there with a pin.
Re: Ripe for a Zork bork
Don't be alarmist - that's only if the lights go out.
(I really ought to dig out the old disks and pay the world another visit...)
A bit fucking late
Didn't you know Musk has had a colony on Mars since 2022?
It's connected to other Martian X-bases by a hyperloop, but if you you prefer, you can always hop into a FSD Tesla.
https://www.archdaily.com/880697/elon-musk-announces-spacex-plans-to-begin-mars-colonization-by-2022
Re: A bit fucking late
" Didn't you know Musk has had a colony on Mars since 2022? "
Amalgamated with the existing one founded from the Lunar NAZI base ?
GRU = Grifters 'R' Us ?
Still takes real chutzpah to ask for a $ million for possible stay in an inflatable but characteristically leaky Li·lo™ of a hotel in the utterly unforgiving lunar environment.
Admittedly there is a very long list of people who I would be more than prepared to pay $1 million to pack like Brisling sardines into a disposable rocket and launch at the Moon (or the Sun… anywhere really, just not here) but the GRU crew and any deposits will certainly have evaporated well before 2029 let alone 2032.
Actually - what would you do once you were on the Moon ? Take the totty and join the 250,000 mile high club ?
Re: A bit fucking late
I think he might be on to something. I think a bouncy castle on the moon targets that often overlooked "8 years old but stinking rich" market.
"Actually - what would you do once you were on the Moon ? Take the totty and join the 250,000 mile high club ?"
It's exclusively for billionaires in a jurisdiction that is outside of Earth...what do you think all the billionaires will do? Sit around the piano chortling and guffawing with blinis and champagne?
It won't be classy like my friends door bell. I configured that to play the Ferrero Rocher music when the button is pressed. He says he hates it, but he hasn't once asked me for the password to change it.
Re: A bit fucking late
Actually - what would you do once you were on the Moon ?
"Hi, Mom! You'll never guess where I'm calling you from!"
Re: A bit fucking late
"Hi, Mom! You'll never guess where I'm calling you from!"
Hmm.. Scott Manley's vid was rudely interrupted by an ad read from Surfshark. For only $1999 a month, you can pick the Moon as a VPN endpoint*! Which won't exactly cause any IP lawyers who've already asserted rights to things outside Earth to break much of a sweat.
*Faking latency is possible, but not always easy. Could maybe hire James May to add 'Buffering!' to voice or video calls though.
Re: A bit fucking late
Actually - what would you do once you were on the Moon ? Take the totty and join the 250,000 mile high club ?
I would send a text message to a bunch of mathematicians about to announce how many digits of pi they had calculated, reading "355/113 was good enough to get us here!"
The moon is a harsh mistress
Much as I'd appreciate the holiday, for now I shall be keeping my wallet in my pocket.
Re: The moon is a harsh mistress
Some like it that way, So I believe.
Re: The moon is a harsh mistress
... and there is no safe word.
Re: The moon is a harsh mistress
And in space, nobody can hear you... no, no, I can't do it. You fill the end in.
That moon regolith is nasty, sharp stuff
I don't think I'd be trusting anything inflatable on the moon to stay un-popped for very long.