UAE announces to build first city on Mars

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates has unveiled an ambitious new project that aims to establish the first inhabitable human settlement on Mars by 2117.

The initiative called “Mars 2117 Project” was announced on Tuesday by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and vice president of the UAE, on the sidelines of the 5th World Government Summit.

The project integrates a vision to create a mini-city and community on Mars to be developed and executed in partnership with major international scientific research institutions.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said that exploring the space is an old human dream, and the objective is that the UAE leads international efforts to realize this dream.

He said the UAE is among the top nine countries in the world that invests in the space sciences, adding that it aims to accelerate the research in this area.

We aspire in the coming century to develop science, technology and our youth’s passion for knowledge. This project is driven by that vision. pic.twitter.com/4QibJjtiM2

— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 14, 2017

The “Mars 2117” project will develop an Emirati and international team of scientists to push the human exploration of Mars in years to come. pic.twitter.com/5ujxvyC8As

— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 14, 2017

“Human ambitions have no limits, and whoever looks into the scientific breakthroughs in the current century believes that human abilities can realise the most important human dream,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

“The new project is a seed that we plant today, and we expect future generations to reap the benefits, driven by its passion to learn to unveil a new knowledge,” he added.

The Mars 2117 Project is a hundred year long-term project, where the first objective is to develop the educational system to be able to lead scientific research across the various sectors.

The knowledge from the research project will be available for all international research institutions, and to contribute and facilitate people lives on earth as well, mainly in transportation, energy and food.

“Mars 2117” is a seed we are sowing today to reap the fruit of new generations led by a passion for science and advancing human knowledge. pic.twitter.com/IExtnpiO2B

— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 14, 2017

The first phase of the project will focus on preparing the human cadres to achieve scientific breakthrough to facilitate the arrival of human to the Red Planet in the next decades.

The project will also focus on developing faster means of transportation from and to the planet, and come up with an integrated scientific visualization of how the settlement will look like, and how life will be there in term of food, transportation and energy.

In 2015, the UAE announced the Mars Probe mission, which will send the Arab world’s first spacecraft to the Red Planet in a scientific exploration mission that will land in 2021.

محمد بن راشد ومحمد بن زايد يعلنان عن مشروع “المريخ 2117” لإيصال البشر للكوكب الأحمر ووضع تصور لإنشاء أول مدينة مصغرة على المريخ pic.twitter.com/d0wfx0t6Ik

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) February 14, 2017