China will establish its first Mars simulation base in Qinghai province, an official said on Tuesday. The base will be in the red cliff region of Da Qaidam (also known as Dachaidan) district in the Mongolian-Tibetan prefecture, Xinhua news agency reported. The region was chosen for its Mars-like landform, landscape and climate, according to Wang Jingzhai, the prefecture's deputy Party chief.
The Haixi government and the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed an agreement in November last year to build the base and have since begun discussing the project location. The base, comprising a "Mars community" and a "Mars campsite", will be turned into China's first cultural and tourist experience base for space and astronomical education, Mars-themed tourism, scientific research and film shooting.
Recently, NASA's Curiosity rover completed its five years of Mars exploration. The NASA rover had completed its mission within one year of landing on the Mars surface. The rover has driven a little more than 17 kilometres in five years, but having studied more than 600 vertical feet of rock with signs of lakes and later ground water, Curiosity's international science team concluded that habitable conditions lasted for at least millions of years. With higher destinations ahead, Curiosity will continue exploring how this habitable world changed through time, NASA said.
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