Ashlee VanceNYT Best Seller | Reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek

The Man Who Runs a Telescope Hotel #space #telescope #astronomy #astrophotography #stars

9 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this interview, Bray, the operator of a remote "telescope hotel" on a 40‑acre site in Texas, explains the project's development and business model. Ground was broken in May 2024, and after about a year and a half the facility hosts roughly 550 telescopes, with 2–3 new units added daily. The service is marketed to consumer stargazers via a monthly lease model ranging from $99 to $400, dramatically cheaper than traditional remote observatories that can charge up to $3,000 per month. Bray emphasizes that while remote observatories exist worldwide, this venture uniquely opens access to a broader consumer market and plans to expand by adding more telescopes across the existing acreage.

It is said that the stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas. And that is the point here. Stargazers want access to clear, dark skies, and Bray gives them a chance to rent this slice of the heavens.
We broke ground here in May of 2024, so it's been about a year and 6 months since we started. And how many telescopes? 550, I think, right now. We put in like 2 or 3 every day. So it's constantly growing. It's not a novel idea. There's a number of remote observatories throughout the world. But what we did here is opened it up to the broader market of consumers. People pay— it's like a lease. It's a monthly subscription. So our lowest cost is all the way down to like $99 a month. And at most it's $400 a month. Okay. Other observatories around the world have, you know, been like 3K per month.
You got 40 acres, and then if you expand, you just, you'll just build more of these behind each other.