The Planet Mars Could be Recreated as a Theme Park in Las Vegas

A consortium of designers and investors has proposed a new attraction in Las Vegas, called Mars World, which aims to recreate the surface of The Red Planet. Should the proposal be successful, Mars World would offer visitors the opportunity to spacewalk across Mars at ¼ Earth’s gravity, ride a monorail around the rocky terrain, or even stay overnight in one of Mars World’s space habitats, members of the consortium told Space.com.

“The multi-acre simulated city will rise on yet-to-be purchased land somewhere between the I-15 freeway and Las Vegas Boulevard, if all goes according to plan,” Elizabeth Howell of Space.com writes. “Visitors will be treated to the music, costumes and culture of a Mars colony. They will take simulated “Marswalks” in one-fourth Earth gravity, ride a tram around the crater in which the city is built and even sleep overnight in rough habitats if they wish.”

Mars World would cost around $2 billion to fund, with the consortium hoping to build the Red Planet recreation by 2021. $500,000 has already been raised, with a second round of funding hoping to gather around $17 million.

“We’re really moving forward on this longstanding connection between science fiction and entertainment and real things,” Chief Designer John Spencer said. “We developed an approach — we call this a design approach —that what we’re doing is not science fiction. It’s science future.”

As well as attracting the standard throng of Vegas tourists, with parts of the attraction designed to appeal to kids, Spencer also wants Mars World to appeal to the Burning Man crowd.

“They’re pretty rowdy, independent, artistic. Don’t agree with authority too much. At Burning Man, clothing is optional,” Spencer said. “If you take that as a foundation and extend that out further in the controlled environment, then we have amazing characters, artwork and costumes.”