 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. 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. “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. 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. China plans to grow potatoes in space ... like Matt Damon did in The Martian 
 
 “The construction of the simulated Mars base has important scientific and ecological significance,” he said. 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.
– 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.)