China’s Mars base plan revealed ... and covering 95,000 sq km, there’s certainly plenty of space
Scientists, government officials agree blueprint for development of ambitious project on Qinghai plateau
China’s plan to build a “Mars village” on a remote plateau in the country’s far northwest will cost about 400 million yuan (US$61.1 million), according to a blueprint for the project drawn up over the weekend.
The estimate was set after scientists and government officials from Delingha in Qinghai province, which will host the base, met to discuss the development of the scheme, Xinhua reported on Wednesday.
Liu Xiaoqun, director of lunar and deep space exploration at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was quoted as saying that the project would combine tourism and scientific exploration, though the report did not say when it might open.
The proposed base covers 95,000 square kilometres in the Qaidam Basin, an arid desert region on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, whose barren, rocky landscape most closely resembles the geographical conditions found on Mars, government officials said earlier.
It will comprise a large Mars-themed tourist attraction open to the general public and a simulated space exploration camp, complete with living accommodation, for those who want to taste what it might be like to live on the Red Planet.