Dubai Proposes Giant Simulated Mars City In the Desert (newatlas.com)

future guy shares a report from New Atlas: The UAE government has announced it is building the world's largest space simulation city, and to top it off it will be designed by one of the world's flashiest architects, Bjarke Ingels, whose company is literally called BIG. The project is called the Mars Science City and will cover 1.9 million sq ft (176,516 sq m) at a cost of nearly $140 million dollars. The city will span several domes, including a space for a team to live for up to a year as part of a Mars simulation. Several scientific laboratories will be included, focusing on developing methods for a Mars colony to produce food, energy and water. A museum exhibiting great space achievements will also be incorporated into the city with the walls of the museum being 3D printed using sand from the nearby Emirati desert.

Comments

Good Choice

[mentil]

When I think of a wasteland that has little access to potable water, a decaying alien civilization, no effective governance, is a pit people keep throwing money into, that is a good place to die and an even better place to send Tom Cruise, I think of Dubai.

Amazing idea

[sheramil]

And when the money runs out, we'll have authentic Ancient Martian Ruins.

Re:Amazing idea

[TWX]

Can't find an immediate source for it, but I remember a story of an arabian man that commented that his grandfather rode a camel, his father drove a Dodge truck (or something practical for working in the oil fields, and the Dodges were apparently very common), he drives a Mercedes, he expects his son to drive a Dodge, and for his grandson to ride a camel.

The point was that the ramifications of a severe reduction in the demand for oil are not unknown, but at the same time there's only so much they can do about it. I gather that some of the oil-wealthy are taking steps to diversify, but as they're all still humans, many are not looking long-term and the gains they currently have will be temporary.

Re:Amazing idea

[jedZ]

The original quote goes like this: "My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel." by Rashid bin Said Al Maktum, who was the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Emir of Dubai

Re:Amazing idea

[sheramil]

... With electric vehicles and bans of fossil fuels appearing, panic and desperation will create all sorts of ideas. There is an ugliness hidden in the background of all this. When they don't want that oil any more, they will...

... do something else with it, like, oh, I don't know.. make plastic , perhaps.

Re:Weighty concerns

[mentil]

If it's about 70 thousands of feet up, and moving very fast, it surely could simulate 1/3 earth's gravity. Disclaimer: periodic altitude boosts required.

Re:Weighty concerns

[mentil]

*meters. Guess who's not allowed to make Mars probes anymore...

Dress rehearsal for the entire country

[wisebabo]

Considering that in 50 years the climate is projected there to become LETHAL to a normal, healthy adult in the shade, I think this is the only way that these countries will continue to exist.

https://www.theguardian.com/en...

Actually, this solution may work, grandiose as it is, for the rich cities like Dubai (assuming they can live off their oil derived fortunes). Unfortunately for those who cannot afford to live in round the clock air-conditioned environments, like the entire country of Yemen, they'll DIE.

Or they'll join the hundreds of millions of refugees from that just that part of the world. (It doesn't include the more than HALF A BILLION people living in similar areas in South Asia). Or the hundreds of millions from other countries including East China and even parts of the U.S.

http://news.nationalgeographic...

Of course, they'll try to find a cooler climate to live in, UNDER PAIN OF DEATH. How the world will handle this, when the (tiny by comparison) six million refugees from the Syrian war has tightened borders everywhere, does not inspire hope.

The future may be a very very horrific place for much of humanity

Re:Dress rehearsal for the entire country

[blindseer]

Well, good thing that UAE is investing in nuclear power.
https://www.reuters.com/articl...

Investing in nuclear power would allow UAE, or any nation, to reduce carbon output and still have power for their air conditioning. Someone might ask why not invest in solar power, especially for a nation with so much access to the sun. As the article I linked to points out UAE intends to invest in that as well, the plan is to get 50% from the sun and 50% from nuclear. I'm sure that such a plan would work well for sunny locations like UAE. For places with not so much sun, like Canada, they might want to lean more on nuclear power than solar.

Re:Dress rehearsal for the entire country

[Baron_Yam]

>Wow, I love how you assume these new immigrants will be horrific and destructive to their host cultures.

There is usually a difference between migrants and refugees - the former are choosing to move and have a vested interest in conforming to some degree to succeed. Refugees are leaving their homes because they have no choice, and they're nowhere near as likely to want to adapt their culture to co-exist. Many of them may be incapable (I don't think I could adapt to a severe cultural change plus a language barrier, and I don't think I'm particularly stupid).

Now imagine those refugees are coming from a country with strict cultural conventions that other countries find revolting. Slavery. Religious intolerance. Dress codes. And imagine they come in numbers great enough that they more or less form their own self-sustaining colonies wherever they go.

I'm Canadian. Diversity's done pretty well for us so far, but I still would not open my arms to a mass wave of refugees from the Middle East, nor would I blame anyone else for the same attitude.

Re:In other news :

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Clearly they want to make their country more like Mars because women are from Venus.

Re:Dollar dollars, eh?

[6Yankee]

They come out of the ATM machine when you enter your PIN number.

Re:Significant figures and conversion precision

[squiggleslash]

What's that in Libraries of Congress?

More accurate conditions

[dr_leviathan]

Mars is COLD and has a very thin atmosphere.

A more accurate locale would be a very high altitude cold desert. Using those criteria the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica would be a better location for a simulated Mars station.