UAE’s Ambitious Plan To Build City On Mars

The United Arab Emirates is to embark on a 100-year plan to build a city on Mars.

This was announced by the Vice President and Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, on Friday, at the fifth World Government Summit held in Dubai.

He said the country was planning to build a city on the red planet by 2117.

The plan will involve scientific research programmes to nurture national cadres specialised in space sciences at universities in the UAE.

He said, “The project, to be named ‘Mars 2117’, integrates a vision to create a mini-city and community on Mars involving international cooperation.”

Sheikh Mohammed said that the project includes the country’s space science research in universities “and would gather an Emirati and international team of scientists.”

The UAE Vice President said “Mars 2117 project sought to push the human exploration of Mars and build a space to pioneer passion among Emirati youth.

“The Mars 2117 Project is a long-term project, where our first objective is to develop our education system so our sons will be able to lead scientific research across the various sectors.”

He added that research on faster space travel, transportation, energy and food supply on Mars would also be carried out.

The initial plan set a concept of using robots to build the city, which was showcased together with Virtual Reality (VR) experience during the Summit.

Computer generated image shows the pod that will enclose the city UAE plans to build on Mars.

Saeed Al Gergawi, the Manager of the summit’s Scientific and Research Committee, told newsmen that the city would be roughly the size of Chicago, with a population of 600,000.

With a great deal of research and observation satellites already developed, the major oil-supplying country wants to conquer space as part of its strategy to diversify its economy away from oil.

The UAE launched its Mars mission named Hope in October 2015, the first in the Arab world, with the goal of sending an unmanned space probe to the planet by 2021.

The official website of the UAE Mars mission announced that a spacecraft is set to blast off in July 2020 and arrive on Mars in 2021 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the country.

The UAE Space Agency had already begun cooperation with counterparts in Russia, the U.S. and other countries to push forward the development of the mission.

Over the past few decades, oil and gas revenue has helped the United Arab Emirates develop at a breakneck pace but they have been affected by falling oil prices. Their intent interest in space travel might be a way of diversifying the economy and break the country’s dependence on oil.

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