The Dubai Media office announced plans to build the world’s biggest space simulation city to support its  Mars 2117 Project that aims to colonize the planet Mars in the next 100 years.

The ultra-modern Space City shall comprise multiple climate controlled domes designed to prevent direct exposure to solar radiation simulating Mars lack of a layer of protective gases to shield its inhabitants from solar radiation.

Scientists and engineers have considered transparent recyclable plastic material as viable option for constructing the giant inflatable dome like structures. Laboratories inside the facility will simulate temperature conditions similar to Mars which are much lower than on earth. However, it not clear how the City will simulate Maritian gravity at 38% of earth’s gravity.

The facility that will attempt to construct “a viable and realistic model to simulate living on the surface of Mars” is the brain child of the celebrated Danish architect Bjarke Ingels; and is a collaboration between his firm BIG, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, and the Dubai Municipality.

The mock multi-domed Martian complex is set to house various scientific laboratories dedicated to space research and planetary exploration, a museum 3-D printed from desert sand, and an amphitheater for recreational and educational purposes. The laboratories will serve as testing sites for food and water security, agricultural farming and energy generation in the future.

UAE recently announced its plan to build a Mars Scientific City on the outskirts of Dubai

A museum to celebrate “humanity’s greatest space achievements” will also be built within the Space City. Its walls shall be 3D printed from the desert sand thus testing the concept on 3D printing human settlements from Mars own resources. An interactive educational zone will draw the attention of the youth and invoke a passion for outer space research and exploration.

One of the highlights of the space age Martian complex would be its inhabitants. It aims to house a team of earthly Martians for a year to work together on develop self-sufficient technologies in energy, food and water.

The UAE’s ambitious plan to build a prototype city as part of its vision to make huge strides in space exploration is one of the biggest initiative in planetary science and space travel from the Muslim world.

This is an extension of the same vision – the Emirates Mars Mission under which UAE will send an unmanned probe to Mars by 2020 which would make it the first Muslim country to send a probe to Mars. By announcing its Mars 2117 Initiative, UAE has now put a stake in for an even greater challenge of Mars Colonisation.

References:

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/space-flight-news/united-arab-emirates-build-mars-science-city/

https://www.sciencealert.com/to-prepare-for-mars-the-uae-is-building-a-simulated-martian-city-on-earth

https://www.popsci.com/united-arab-emirates-mars-city-pictures?src=SOC&dom=

A UAE Space Agency will be set up to supervise the mission and develop a space technology industry in the country, a government statement said. It did not give details such as the cost of the probe or how it would be designed and built.

“The UAE Mars probe represents the Islamic world’s entry into the era of space exploration. We will prove that we are capable of delivering new scientific contributions to humanity,” said UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan.

With a population estimated at no more than about 8 million, most of whom are foreign workers, the UAE lacks the scientific and industrial base of the big spacefaring nations.

But it is keen to diversify its economy beyond oil into high-technology sectors, and its oil reserves give it immense financial power that it could use to buy expertise. One of the sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi, the biggest emirate, is estimated to have assets worth nearly $800 billion.

The UAE’s fast-growing airlines, Emirates and Etihad, are among the world’s biggest buyers of planes from U.S. and European aerospace firms, and a factory in the Abu Dhabi desert now turns out sophisticated parts for Airbus.

The UAE has invested over $5.4 billion in satellite ventures such as data and television broadcast company Al Yah Satellite Communications, mobile communications firm Thuraya and earth mapping and observation firm Dubai Sat, the government said.

The Mars probe will take nine months to complete the more than 60 million-kilometer (37.5 million-mile) journey to Mars, and will make the UAE one of only nine countries with space programs exploring the Red Planet, the statement said.

(Reporting by Andrew Torchia; editing by Andrew Roche)