Tourists who are looking for an “extreme adventure” trip may be able to wed their desire for unique travel with a fascination for space in a few years.
The experience is part of a venture called “Mars V,” and, according to its website, the plan is to build a “Mars simulation tourist center.” CNN describes it as:
- A “month-long survival challenge.”
- A camp that is located “deep in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert that’s designed to simulate life on Mars — for tourists.”
- The camp is “under development by MARS-V, a non-governmental organization based in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar.”
- Tourists will likely be able to travel to the “mock Mars camp” by 2029, according to CNN.
What Is the Mars Camp Like?
What is life like in the Mars simulation experience? According to CNN:
- “Outside it’s -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit).”
- Tourists will meditate and eat “a breakfast of freeze-dried dumplings.”
- They will wear space suits and thermal underwear.
- They sleep in “bunk pods” and navigate sandstorms.
The website for Mars-V describes the Mars camp as a “special interest tourism program that provides individuals the special experience of exploring the red planet under a habitat that most closely resembles the red planet. Providing them the necessary simulated challenges the planet will throw at them. Tourism center for the Mars tourists.”
But what does that look like?
Mars-V has other goals. “Establishment of a joint scientific research center for Mars related technologies acting as the intersecting point for all participants. Mars program research center,” is one of them, according to the website.
The project describes its goal as “ECO DEVELOPMENT MARS-V PROJECT MISSION. BRIDGING MANKIND’S VISION TO REACH MARS.”
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout via Xinhua) (Xinhua/NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images)
“Establishment of a training center to improve skills, gain, test technical knowledge, and to increase and gain experience for settling and living on Mars. To prepare the necessary human resources for the Mars program,” is another.
“A Mars carrier is being built with equipment to transport and support human life on Mars,” the website adds.
The founder and president of the “Mars Society” is Dr. Robert Zubrin, according to the website. There is a QR code to volunteer, but it says it is no longer accepting applications. A number of “aspiring” astronauts are listed on the website as being involved in the project.
What About Actual Human Travel to Mars?
Might it be possible for humans to actually set foot on Mars one day? That’s a goal of NASA.
“Mars remains our horizon goal for human exploration because it is one of the only other places we know where life may have existed in the solar system. What we learn about the Red Planet will tell us more about our Earth’s past and future, and may help answer whether life exists beyond our home planet,” NASA’s website says.
“Like the Moon, Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and a driver of technologies that will enable humans to travel and explore far from Earth,” it adds.
Mars is located “33 million to 249 million miles from Earth (always changing),” according to NASA.
“NASA is advancing many technologies to send astronauts to Mars as early as the 2030s,” the agency writes.
