Accommodations in Orbit [WAS] Redesigning O Neill cylinders

It seems to me that this discussion is coming from two different
points in time, and is also leaving out something important. That
something important is also being discussed, sometimes in this very
thread.

Certainly, the very first accommodations in space will be rather
spartan. Indeed, this is one of the few times that I can prove
myself absolutely correct: look at Skylab, MIR, and ISS. Early space
accommodations all. Pretty spartan, aren't they? Now of course
nobody makes his *home* on ISS, though dedicated, disciplined,
trained astronauts and cosmonauts may serve tours of up to a year,
perhaps more. Of course, the main job of the astro/cosmonauts is the
tour itself. They may install a robot arm, try out a new device,
etc., but the main job is to be in space, often as a human guinea
pig. And the taxpayers are footing the bill. Thus, ISS doesn't even
have dedicated sleeping quarters.

There is no reason to expect skilled construction workers, biosystem
engineers, etc. (or even ex-military, dedicated, trained
cosmo/astronauts) to put up with this sort of thing for years on
end. You can only make your housing facilities so spartan, because
you are dealing with high-skilled workers who can find jobs elsewhere
if you demand too much of them. You can't make it like a nuclear
sub, because civilians won't put up with it. You can't make it like
a prison work camp, because law-abiding civilians *certainly* won't
put up with it. Especially if there are a lot of them. Especially if
they have any clue that something better is (or could be) available.
And trust me, by the time we start building SPS, they will have more
than a clue.

Time for that something important that I mentioned. Space hotels get
talked about here from time to time, and have shown up in this very
thread. Now of course space hotels will *not* be spartan little
affairs, because the tourists will demand more, and hotels will
compete to offer something bigger and better than the guys over in
the next orbit. Of course, such grandness requires a construction
capability comparable to that needed for SPS.

So now assume that you are going massive into SPS construction. You
put a thousand workers into orbit, most of them construction, but
some of them support (somebody has to feed the construction workers,
etc.). Most of their work will consist of SPS construction, but a
significant fraction will be building or expanding those space
hotels. So of course the first thing they need to build is a housing
facility for a thousand people, with tiny little rooms, no greenery,
few amenities, and no

HOLD IT!!!

Wouldn't it just be cheaper to put you workers up in the hotels than
to build a *whole new facility,* however bare-bones spartan? Say,
two to a suite? That means five hundred suites, perhaps spread out
over ten hotels. You don't have to build tiny little rooms Joe
Worker retires to his suite at the end of the day. You don't have to
build a cramped mess hall Joe Worker goes to the hotel's restaurant
for his meals. You don't have to fret about how much of your budget
to sink into building the equivalent of an Akula submarine's dinky
little pool, and whether it will be enough to satisfy civilians Joe
Worker has his choice of all amenities the hotel provides, some for
free. Swimming pools and, yes, perhaps even movie stars.

Not only does this save you the cost of building a new facility, but
it cuts down on the number of support personnel you have to put into
orbit (Ramada already employs better chefs than any you're liable to
hire). It is as if the Pilgrims had arrived in Massachusetts to find
English country inns waiting for them, and could stay there while
building Boston.

Still think building you bare-boned work camp would be cheaper?
Consider that the hotels will almost certainly give you a discount if
you are buying up five hundred suites for years at a time. Also, it
lets you do incentive programs that would not be possible with
a "work camp." The Employee of the Month might get a day off with
pay, which he spends at the hotel. This day off would of course be
timed to give him a three-day weekend. The Employee of the Year
might get an entire week off with pay, plus a ticket for a loved one
to spend a week at the hotel with him. If the job pays well (and it
better, if you want to attract the best and brightest), Joe Worker
has probably done this already, at his own expense. A day (or week)
off in a bare-boned, spartan work camp wouldn't be much of a reward.

Xenophile (who might agree to a *two* year contract, if its done this
way)