There's no way anyone can escape exclaiming a proposed space station to replace the International Space Station looks like, well, a huge male penis.

Some politely describe the "Gaia Class" space station being developed and marketed by United Space Structures (USS) as a huge mushroom or a gigantic space screw. The design of this suggestive space station isn't the only new thing about it, however.

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Based in Washington, DC, USS bills itself as a "development, design and construction enterprise focusing on creating habitable environments to support research, manufacturing, entertainment and commerce in space".

The company founders are Bill Kemp, CEO and founder of the "FESSS space construction process", and Ted Maziejka, COO.

USS' Gaia Class space station will measure 100 meters in diameter and 400 meters in length. It will create artificial gravity by spinning around at a rate of 4.2 times per minute. This spin will generate a centrifugal force strong enough to force humans onto the curved floors that run around its edges.

Think of the curved space station in the movie, "2001: A Space Odyssey", to see how this works out in real life.

Spinning the space station will allow for long duration flights without the disabling effects of muscle and bone loss due to zero gravity. USS claims that physiologically and psychologically, the environment will be easier to adapt to than zero gravity.

The double wall system of Gaia's inner and outer hull is designed with a void between them. The rest of the interior volume will be filled with water that will act as the cosmic radiation shield and also the water reservoir for the station.

USS said its FESSS technology for building large cylindrical space structures will make the dream of a large habitable environment with variable gravity technically and economically feasible.

It says it's currently developing several robotic platforms that will have the capability to build a double walled structure cylindrical in shape and measuring 100 meters in diameter by 400 meters in length.

This will produce 2.8 million cubic meters of habitable interior volume. In comparison, the interior volume of the International Space Station, when completed, will be 1,000 cubic meters.