Walking around China's C-Space Mars simulation base in Gobi desert

Walking around China's C-Space Mars simulation base in Gobi desert - photos and a video by Slovenian photographer Matjaž Tančič. A private company C-Space opened this base on April, 2019 in the Gobi Desert 40km from Jinchang, northwest Gansu Province. Its aim is to educate and provide an environment for youths and tourists to experience life on Mars.

Family spacecraft approaching Martian spaceport by Clive Almeida

Inspiring scene from our bright future where humanity has colonized the Solar system - family spacecraft approaching Martian spaceport by Indian concept artist Clive Almeida; an image from his concept of a Mars theme park "Mars: a brave new world". More of his art here.

China's C-Space Mars simulation base in Gobi desert

On April 17, 2019 China opened it's second Mars simulation base - C-Space Project, located in the Gobi Desert 40km from Jinchang, northwest Gansu Province. Its aim is to educate and provide an environment for youths and tourists to experience life on Mars. The facility consists of several interconnected modules including a domed greenhouse, living quarters, a control room and a mock decompression chamber. It is developed by a private company C-Space and will be heavily focused on tourism, with additional investment and development of the surrounding area hoping to attract two million visitors a year by 2030.

Apparently China has serious plans to inspire its population about human colonization of Mars, as only a month ago it opened its first Mars simulation base - Mars Camp, located in a high-altitude desert - the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province.

Here is a collection of photos from the base by Reuters, AFP, EPA & East News:

China's Mars Camp in Qaidam Basin, Qinghai Province

On March 1, 2019 China opened its first Mars analog research station - Mars Camp, located in a cold high-altitude desert - the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province. It's already the most ambitious Mars simulation station built, costing about $22 million. Covering an area of 53,330 square meters, the base can accommodate 60 people in its capsules and hundreds in the base's tents.

"The red rock area in the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai has been called the most "Martian" place on Earth, with its natural features, landscape and climate all similar to those on the red planet, said Gao Junling, the project founder. The temperatures here vary greatly between day and night, similar to those on Mars, according to Gao. He said that participants could immerse themselves in the environment and try to solve problems they might face on Mars, such as planting potatoes on Mars for food supply and solar power generation."

As information in Western media about this base is quite scarce and photos even scarcer we collected all the best photos here. Most of them are from this blog post (in Chinese).

D-Mars mission habitat in southern Israel

Astronauts returning to D-Mars mission habitat in southern Israel; photo by Niamh Shaw. D-Mars (Desert Mars Analog Ramon Station) is Israel's 1st Mars analog research station similar to Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, US where astronauts, scientists and space enthusiasts can train for future human missions to Mars.

The station is located in a desolate area in Israel’s Negev Desert near the 200 million-year-old, 25-mile-wide Ramon Crater. Although not an impact crater, but a rare form of erosion structures, it has a resemblance to a variety of terrain types relevant to Mars exploration. The surrounding area hosts many similarities to the Martian environment in its geology, aridity and isolation.

Concept art by Brian Cho for "Mars World" at Las Vegas

By 2021 at Las Vegas (hopefully) will be opened a large tourist attraction complex called "Mars World" worth of 2 billion $. The authors of the ambitious project has stated that the attraction will include "worlds largest dome" and "visitors will be treated to the music, costumes and culture of a Mars colony. They will take simulated "Marswalks" in one-fourth Earth gravity, ride a tram around the crater in which the city is built and even sleep overnight in rough habitats if they wish."

Here are some of the concept art pieces for the "Mars World" by Brian Cho:

Interspace Mars colony

Picture of the Day 31/8/15 - A drawing of a Mars colony from the website of "Interspace" - a Mars-themed attraction park in Titusville, Florida (near Kennedy Space Center) which will hopefully open in 2016 and house "the largest indoor Mars simulation in the world". It's one of the entertainment & education projects of 4Frontiers Corporation, a space commerce company focused on the settlement of Mars.