China Builds Simulated Mars Colony In Desert For Teens

A government sends children to a special facility to train them on how to adapt to life on the Red Planet - Mars. Although this sounds like something from a young adult novel, this unusual project is actually real. The project is China's C-Space Base.

Bai Fan, C-Space’s founder to AFP about the project, said:

The base is in an identical Mars “village” in the Qaidam Basin of Qinghai, a brutally dry and hot area, which is considered the best duplicate of the surface conditions of Mars.

AFP reported that at this high-technology space camp, the kids will put on simulated space suits when they explore the Mars-like Qaidam Basin’s landscape.

However, since China is preparing for a rover mission to Mars which is set to launch in early 2020, at least an academic says that Mars-simulated C-Space base is stupid and has little to no  resemblance to how a real Mars base is designed, especially if as planned, it is publicly offered as a place for tourists with a themed restaurant.

The project has received many criticisms from some the scientific community. Jiao Weixin, Peking University’s School of Earth and Space Sciences’ professor said the surrounding desert and the main building hardly simulated the real conditions of the Red Planet. He also said that to actually replicate the toxic and harsh conditions of this planet would be to create a really hostile environment, which is quite expensive and entirely unnecessary.

Weixin exclaimed.