As NASA’s Artemis II mission in February 2026 is poised to return astronauts to the Moon , Galactic Resource Utilization Space (GRU Space), a San Francisco–based start-up is exploring designs for the first hotel on the Moon by 2032.
Founded in 2025 by UC Berkeley graduate Skyler Chan, GRU Space brings together a team from spaceflight, autonomous systems and large-scale hardware, to tackle off-planet habitation. GRU’s hotel design blends inflatable living modules shipped from Earth and expanded on site. The structural shells are to be made from lunar regolith bricks created on the Moon itself. This hybrid approach responds directly to the Moon’s harsh environment, using local materials to shield occupants from radiation, temperature extremes and micrometeoroid impacts.
The company’s roadmap includes test missions beginning in 2029 and 2031 to validate inflatable habitats and the production of construction materials from lunar soil, a method known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU).
The project is conceived as a prototype for sustainable off-Earth living. Future iterations could expand capacity, develop protective infrastructure and help establish the foundations of lunar economies — a design vision rooted in adaptability, resilience and long-term human presence beyond Earth.
