China has built a 150 million yuan ($ 22 million) building complex for a maximum of 60 people, accessible not only to Chinese tailots but also to tourists. The base is built near the village of Mangaj in the arid desert in the northeast of the Tibetan Plateau, in Qinghai Province. The natural conditions of this site were selected to simulate a station on Mars, where China plans to land the spacecraft in 2020.

Similar conditions to Mars

The arid wasteland is to mimic the conditions on Mars. In addition to the stony desert landscape, they have common and severe temperature changes. As with Mars, there are very significant fluctuations between day and night temperatures.

As the Chinese Space Agency (CNSA) says, various science-based experiments will be carried out at the base, but can also be visited by "curious and adventurers". The main task of the complex is to solve the fundamental problems that the first crew sent to Mars may encounter.

Construction began in June 2018, covers an area of ​​53 m² and up to 60 people can live in containers (cabins) and another 100 in special tents.

Jiao Wei Xin, a professor of physical cosmology at Peking University, told the Global Times that it is very difficult to simulate Martian natural conditions on Earth due to their difference from terrestrial and aggressive environments - very sparse atmosphere, strong cosmic rays, frequent sandstorms. and significant surface height differences.

China really focused on the Red Planet and plans to send four missions to 2030 to explore the more distant universe. Including the launch of probes on Mars, asteroids, and Jupiter, the Sinhua agency reports.