China’s plan to build a “Mars village” on a remote plateau in the country’s far northwest will cost about 400 million yuan (US$61.1 million), according to a blueprint for the project drawn up over the weekend. 
 
 The estimate was set after scientists and government officials from Delingha in Qinghai province, which will host the base, met to discuss the development of the scheme, Xinhua reported on Wednesday. 
 
 Liu Xiaoqun, director of lunar and deep space exploration at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was quoted as saying that the project would combine tourism and scientific exploration, though the report did not say when it might open. 
 
 China to build first Mars simulation base 
 
 The proposed base covers 95,000 square kilometres in the Qaidam Basin, an arid desert region on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, whose barren, rocky landscape most closely resembles the geographical conditions found on Mars, government officials said earlier. 
 
 It will comprise a large Mars-themed tourist attraction open to the general public and a simulated space exploration camp, complete with living accommodation, for those who want to taste what it might be like to live on the Red Planet. 
 
 “People dream about migrating to Mars, so what we want to do is give people a high-end experience of what it would actually be like to live in outer space,” Liu was quoted as saying. 
 
 He said he hoped the base would become a hub for scientific research and education. 
 
 The ambitious project has been in the works since November, when the government of Haixi prefecture in Qinghai signed a deal allowing the Chinese Academy of Sciences to use its land. 
 
 Zhang Biao, the deputy mayor of Delingha, said he hoped the project would provide a much-needed boost to the local economy. 
 
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 “The construction of the simulated Mars base has important scientific and ecological significance,” he said. “It not only allows people to learn more about Mars and space exploration, but will also benefit economic development in the area.” 
 
 Despite being rich in natural resources, Qinghai remains largely undeveloped in comparison to China’s coastal areas, and has the second-lowest GDP of all Chinese provinces. 
 
 Planners are also hoping to capitalise on the area’s proximity to the Hexi Corridor in neighbouring Gansu province, which contains several tourist attractions linked to the ancient Silk Road that ran from the Tibetan Plateau to Central Asia. 
 
 Last year, the Chinese government revealed plans to launch an unmanned Mars mission in 2020. Artists’ impressions of the orbiter, lander and rover designed to probe the planet’s surface were released to the public last summer. 
 
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 Other countries have set up bases that simulate life on Mars or the journey to the planet. 
 
 In 2015, a study funded by Nasa allowed six researchers to live in a “Martian” habitat in Hawaii for a year, while in 2010-11, a group of volunteers, including one Chinese, lived in a pseudo spaceship in Moscow for 520 days, the estimated time it would take to travel from Earth to Mars and back again. ||||| 95,000 square-kilometre space base will be used to train astronauts as well as entertain glamping tourists 
 
 The 55m-kilometre jaunt from planet Earth to the red planet takes up to a year. From Beijing’s international airport you’ll soon be able to fly there in just over seven hours. 
 
 
 
 In the latest leg of its multi-billion dollar race for space, China has unveiled plans to build a 400m yuan (£47m) replica of Mars on a spectacular, sandswept corner of the Tibetan plateau. 
 
 
 
 The “simulated Mars station” – a 95,000 square-kilometre tribute to the solar system’s second-smallest planet – will be built in Qinghai province’s Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan autonomous prefecture, not far from the westernmost tip of the Great Wall. 
 
 Xinhua, China’s official news agency, described the breathtaking red rock location as “the most Martian place on Earth”. 
 
 
 
 Liu Xiaoqun, a space exploration expert from the Chinese Academy of Sciences who is leading the attempt to recreate Mars on Earth, declined to speak to the Guardian about the project. “Liu Xiaoqun isn’t in Beijing and he doesn’t want to take any interviews,” said Huang Jingyi, a press officer from the state-run academy. 
 
 
 
 But local reports suggest the remote desert base will be used for a mix of serious space research and money-spinning glamping of the sort that is becoming increasingly popular among well-off Chinese. 
 
 
 
 One section of the “hyper-arid” high-altitude camp will be used to train Chinese astronauts, state broadcaster CCTV reported earlier this summer. Another part will receive tourists hungering for a taste of life on Mars. “People dream about migrating to Mars, so what we want to do is give people a high-end experience of what it would actually be like to live in outer space,” Liu said, according to the South China Morning Post. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The sun’s rays peak out over a future space base in north-west China’s Qinghai province. Photograph: Xinhua / Barcroft Images 
 
 Xinhua said adventure-seeking glampers would be housed on a “Mars campside” featuring “module-like accommodations” designed to simulate extraterrestrial living. A Mars-themed amusement park will also be created. CCTV said guests would “find out what life on Mars is really like” by experiencing weightlessness and hiking in the area’s arid desert terrain. Despite its isolated location, the campsite is likely to be rather more hospitable than Mars, which has an unbreathable atmosphere that contains only 0.2% oxygen. 
 
 
 
 Zhang Biao, the deputy mayor of Delingha, the nearest city to China’s Mars, said the project would boost the local economy as well as awareness of Beijing’s space program. “The building of the Mars village has both scientific and ecological significance,” he told Xinhua. 
 
 China is fighting to transform itself into a space superpower, as part of a wider bid for international prestige that has accelerated since Xi Jinping took power in 2012. Beijing hopes to have a permanent manned space station operating by 2022 and to send a probe to the real Mars in 2019. In 2013 China became the first country to soft land on the moon in almost four decades as part of efforts to send the first Chinese astronaut there. 
 
 
 
 Not everyone is convinced that Qinghai’s Mars simulation base will help China’s space ambitions. Jiao Weixin, a Peking University scholar, suggested it was more gimmick than game-changer. “It will be difficult for the Mars simulation to imitate the original,” he was quoted as saying by the Global Times newspaper. 
 
 
 
 Additional reporting by Wang Zhen 
 
 ||||| NASA/Clouds AO/SEArch China is to build its first base to simulate conditions living on Mars in a desert area deep in the country's northwest, state media reported. 
 
 An agreement to build a "Mars village" at Haixi prefecture in Qinghai province was signed on Tuesday, according to the China News Service. 
 
 The region on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau is known for its sharp ridges and mounds of rock - known as yardangs - formed over centuries by wind erosion. They mirror similar features found on the arid surface of the Red Planet. 
 
 The project will incorporate education, tourism, scientific research and simulation training, according to a December statement on the website of the Haixi government. 
 
 The base might also include a set for shooting films and TV shows, the statement said. 
 
 Liu Xiaoqun, an official involved in space exploration at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the base would contribute to local tourism in Qinghai. 
 
 The facility, composed of a "Mars community" and a "Mars camp," will provide tourists with a unique scientific and cultural experience, according to the report. 
 
 China's ambitious space programme includes plans to launch a Mars probe in 2020. 
 
 The government showed off images last year depicting its future orbiter, lander and rover - designed to explore the surface of the Red Planet. 
 
 Other countries have set up bases to simulate living on Mars, or the journey to the Red Planet. 
 
 A study funded by Nasa allowed six researchers to live in a mockup Mars habitat in Hawaii for a year from August 2015. 
 
 A group of volunteers, including a Chinese citizen, lived in a mock spaceship in Moscow for 520 days beginning in 2010, the estimated time needed to travel from Earth to Mars and back.
– China's Qinghai province may be remote, but it's a heck of a lot less remote than Mars. So for those looking to experience the latter but willing to travel to the former, good news: China in July announced that it intends to build a Mars replica on what the Guardian describes as "a spectacular, sandswept corner of the Tibetan plateau." The South China Morning Post has the latest on the so-called "Mars Village," which it reports will cost about $60 million, following recent meetings between government officials and scientists. The desert locale has been described as Mars-like, thanks in part to the oddly shaped wind-eroded rocks, called yardang, found there, reported the Morning Post. The vision to cater to two types of voyagers: The 36,000-square-mile high-altitude camp will serve as a training ground for Chinese astronauts and tourists looking to experience a "high-end," glamping-like version of life on Mars. The Guardian tried to talk to project head Liu Xiaoqun about the plans, but got the cold shoulder from a rep for the Chinese Academy of Sciences: "Liu ... isn't in Beijing and he doesn't want to take any interviews." (America's version of Mars is on Hawaii.)