The United Arab Emirates wants to build the first city on Mars by 2117

[Shawn Knight]

Dubai, described by some as the jewel of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is one of the most opulent places on Earth. Currently home to the tallest building in the world (the Burj Khalifa), Dubai is now looking to significantly extend its footprint… all the way to Mars.

Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, earlier this week announced plans to build the first inhabitable human settlement on Mars by 2117.

Barring any major medical breakthroughs, most of us won’t get to see “Mars Project 2117” in our lifetime but the prospect is exciting nevertheless for future generations.

The objective in the near future, according to bin Zayed, is to develop their educational system so future generations will be able to lead scientific research across various sectors. Initial research will involve an Emiratis team of scientists before eventually extending to include international scientists and researchers, we’re told.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Saeed Al Gergawi, manager of the scientific and research committee of the World Government Summit, said the city they envision would be about the size of Chicago with the ability to support around 600,000 citizens - far more people than the 80,000 Elon Musk wants to start his Martian colony with.

Images courtesy Government of Dubai Media Office

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https://www.techspot.com/news/68199-united-arab-emirates-wants-build-first-city-mars.html

 

[Rippleman]

Although I could be wrong, I would like to say this: Not a chance... but not for the reasons you think.

The entire middle east will be bankrupt within 100 years. Almost every middle east country has their economy based on oil. The middle east virtually doesn't build anything (aside from Israel). Oil prices are only going to go down (with maybe a small $5 bump over the next 5 years) from this point forward. The USA is now fulfilling any demand above $40/barrel. Human population will be peaking and leveling out at roughly 10 billion people. This means no more exponential growth/demand for new oil. Cars, equipment, machines are getting more efficient. Alternative energy is growing faster in use and deployment. Costs for making things more efficient are going down Etc etc. Because of all these contributing factors (and the many more that I didn't mention), the UAE will be broke with no money to do anything but secure the country from the growth of radical Islam. It most likely be China if any city will get built by a single country, but even that would be unrealistic and will almost a guarantee to be a joint operation of China, India and the USA.

 

[TomSEA]

Good luck with that. Their oil will be gone in 30 years (or less) and that entire region will revert back to the goat herding civilization they were for thousands of years.

 

[Igrecman]

I wonder if prophet Muhammad would approve. Anything about that in the Quran?

 

[Lionvibez]

Interesting post Rippleman seems plausible.

 

[Uncle Al]

If they will send all their terrorist and potential terrorist there, I'm all for it!

 

[namesrejected]

If they will send all their terrorist and potential terrorist there, I'm all for it!

I dont know about that...Mars atmosphere may be better than Earths by then. We may want to keep the terrorist here, and we move to Mars.

 

[Lionvibez]

I dont know about that...Mars atmosphere may be better than Earths by then. We may want to keep the terrorist here, and we move to Mars.

Unless we invent some star trek level machines in the next 100 years that is not likely.

As much damage as we have done to ours Mars has 0 atmosphere.

I think we have a better chance of world peace lol

 

[namesrejected]

Unless we invent some star trek level machines in the next 100 years that is not likely.

As much damage as we have done to ours Mars has 0 atmosphere.

I think we have a better chance of world peace lol

World peace is a sure thing! Don't forget, we got Trump! He will bring world peace for sure!

 

[SamuraiSamson]

Good luck with that. Their oil will be gone in 30 years (or less) and that entire region will revert back to the goat herding civilization they were for thousands of years.

Are you lactose tolerant? It means your ancestors were livestock herding civilizations as well.

 

[VitalyT]

By 2117 there will be nothing left of Emirates - aka The Oil Leeches.

By that time they will have sucked their reserves dry, crawl onto their camels and back to the desert they all came from.

 

[mosu]

No love lost here for UAE, I wonder if you feel the same for Russia or European northern countries, exploiting oil in Northern Sea. Finally someone is pumping huge money in space R&D and you're not happy.

 

[Ean Mogg]

And where is their Billions on Spacecraft development ?? or will the leach of everyone in the world's Space industries ?? go to the Moon first and develope that first cause Mars has no hope for terraforming,, any atmosphere will be stripped away by the solar winds as soon as they start ....

 

[captaincranky]

My prediction is, the 4th generation clone of Elon Musk will cause the bankruptcy of Dubai, when he convinces them to fund his, "all electric warp drive engine". As with all four of his predecessor's projects, the warp drive will always be nearing completion in about two years and 20 trillions in tax credits in the future

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

A lot of things will happen between now and 2117. Who says Dubai will still even exist by then? I certainly won't be around myself by then but there's also no guarantee the earth will either, however unlikely it seems.

 

[captaincranky]

No love lost here for UAE, I wonder if you feel the same for Russia or European northern countries, exploiting oil in Northern Sea. Finally someone is pumping huge money in space R&D and you're not happy.

Right! While their people starve.

What I've heard so far, is what is called, "a pipe dream". Dubai is a lot closer to Afghanistan than we here in the USA. Therefore "Primo" should be a lot cheaper there. Nobody is truly sure which culture invented the water pipe, but it was most likely either India or Persia. Which is better known today as "Iraq" and "Iran". In either case, it was definitely somewhere the neighborhood.

So maybe, they're planning to use an alkaloid / cannabis fuel to get to Mars. Or, as James Taylor so eloquently put it, "I'm going to Olympus Mons in my mind". Now don't forget in inhale deeply, and hold your breath as long as you can. That should prove to be good practice for living in a world without an atmosphere.

 

[captaincranky]

And where is their Billions on Spacecraft development ?? or will the leach of everyone in the world's Space industries ?? go to the Moon first and develope that first cause Mars has no hope for terraforming,, any atmosphere will be stripped away by the solar winds as soon as they start ....

Actually, "terraforming" is a science fiction concept from, "Star Trek III, The Search for Spock". Dude, it's not real.

In any case, much of what we call "synthetic chemicals", are actually highly ,modified "organic chemical;s", and most of those are derived from oil. So, since Mars certainly never had life to the extent the earth did, you're not going to be able to go there and drill for oil.

Plastics, are various mutations of petroleum compounds, which are also known as "oil".

Mars isn't going to develop an atmosphere anytime soon, and you're not likely to be able to "grow one". (*)

Which brings us back to plastic domes. and the need for oil, in massive amounts to make those domes.

So maybe we'll have a colony on Mars, when Trump completes the first interplanetary oil pipeline, and not a minute sooner.

In short, "all the kings rednecks, and all the king's pickup truck's greenhouse gas exhausts", couldn't make Mars breathable to Humpty Dumpty ever again".

(*) Most of us learned by 6th grade science why Mars doesn't have an atmosphere, and isn't ever likely to support life..

 

[cuerdc]

I'd rather see a spaceship like startrek enterprise built, space stations etc as surely would need a transportation network to be able to ferry the amount of resources req to build anything anywhere out there.

 

[MonsterZero]

I'm pretty sure their reason behind this is to leave the earth behind and move all the rich people to Mars.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

And where is their Billions on Spacecraft development ?? or will the leach of everyone in the world's Space industries ?? go to the Moon first and develope that first cause Mars has no hope for terraforming,, any atmosphere will be stripped away by the solar winds as soon as they start ....

Actually, "terraforming" is a science fiction concept from, "Star Trek III, The Search for Spock". Dude, it's not real.

In any case, much of what we call "synthetic chemicals", are actually highly ,modified "organic chemical;s", and most of those are derived from oil. So, since Mars certainly never had life to the extent the earth did, you're not going to be able to go there and drill for oil.

Plastics, are various mutations of petroleum compounds, which are also known as "oil".

Mars isn't going to develop an atmosphere anytime soon, and you're not likely to be able to "grow one". (*)

Which brings us back to plastic domes. and the need for oil, in massive amounts to make those domes.

So maybe we'll have a colony on Mars, when Trump completes the first interplanetary oil pipeline, and not a minute sooner.

In short, "all the kings rednecks, and all the king's pickup truck's greenhouse gas exhausts", couldn't make Mars breathable to Humpty Dumpty ever again".

(*) Most of us learned by 6th grade science why Mars doesn't have an atmosphere, and isn't ever likely to support life..

While I agree with most of your assessment, your initial comment was just malliterate. Terraforming has been written about, conceptualized, and movie-portrayed by almost all the major sci-fi authors well before the Genesis device in Star Trek.

I mean, it's cool to be a nerd and all (especially on this site) but the fact that you referenced an old Star Trek movie instead of, you know, every sci-fi author ever, is quite pathetic.

And areoforming Mars (the Martians get offended if you mention terra) is completely viable, from a scientific standpoint. Kim Stanley Robinson outlines multiple processes to speed things up in his definitive work on the topic, "Red Mars," "Green Mars," "Blue Mars." Which is full of physics flaws (all sci-fi is, especially everything Space-X is doing now) but many viable, real ideas.

To make a long story longer, if you haven't read that trilogy you really don't know what you're talking about. But your premise is correct: neither Dubai nor America nor anyone else will have a city on Mars any time within this century. Physics was murdered in Copenhagen in the 1920s and it's only now being resurrected. Spoiler alert: nobody in the mainstream is helping with this resurrection.

 

[mosu]

"To make a long story longer, if you haven't read that trilogy you really don't know what you're talking about. But your premise is correct: neither Dubai nor America nor anyone else will have a city on Mars any time within this century. Physics was murdered in Copenhagen in the 1920s and it's only now being resurrected. Spoiler alert: nobody in the mainstream is helping with this resurrection."
I could not agree more about physics and I'm sick and tired of seeing good ideas pushed aside by people eager only to be accepted and be a part of this monstruous coalition of dogmatic *****s.If someone knows a place where people with different ideas can exchange thoughts freely, please let me know.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

"To make a long story longer, if you haven't read that trilogy you really don't know what you're talking about. But your premise is correct: neither Dubai nor America nor anyone else will have a city on Mars any time within this century. Physics was murdered in Copenhagen in the 1920s and it's only now being resurrected. Spoiler alert: nobody in the mainstream is helping with this resurrection."
I could not agree more about physics and I'm sick and tired of seeing good ideas pushed aside by people eager only to be accepted and be a part of this monstruous coalition of dogmatic *****s.If someone knows a place where people with different ideas can exchange thoughts freely, please let me know.

Mosu, if you're interested in reading about modern, actual advances in physics take a look at this guy's work. It's all simple writing, with simple, well-defined equations and diagrams. His chief contribution is to define "charge" at the fundamental level, and re-examine the photon as the real quanta (not the much-larger electron). He is also the only person to ever define electricity and magnetism mechanically, using these theories. Interesting stuff:

The Greatest Standing Errors in Physics and Mathematics
http://milesmathis.com/

And here is a quick video I made showing how the Alpha particle (Helium) works, using these mechanics:

 

[captaincranky]

"To make a long story longer, if you haven't read that trilogy you really don't know what you're talking about. But your premise is correct: neither Dubai nor America nor anyone else will have a city on Mars any time within this century. Physics was murdered in Copenhagen in the 1920s and it's only now being resurrected. Spoiler alert: nobody in the mainstream is helping with this resurrection."

Actually, if memory serves, the tangible "benefit" from the application of nuclear physics was witnessed by the world on August 6, 1945 at Hiroshima Japan, some 25 years later.

I could not agree more about physics and I'm sick and tired of seeing good ideas pushed aside by people eager only to be accepted and be a part of this monstruous coalition of dogmatic *****s.If someone knows a place where people with different ideas can exchange thoughts freely, please let me know.

If you want to talk imaginary bullsh!t, about sci-fi which you'd like to try and pass off as fact, you're already in the right place. I'm here for ya buddy.

I've already read what I consider the best piece of Sci-Fi ever written, "Brave New World", by Aldous Huxley. Funny thing though, it didn't center on technology, it centered upon what a pack of unthinking, unfeeling, imbeciles the human race would become. And uh, we're pretty far down that road already.

BTW, if you think you're going to beg us to look for a website for you because we're not "intellectually advanced" enough for you, you might add, "delusionality", to a long list of your other glaring faults.

 

[captaincranky]

While I agree with most of your assessment, your initial comment was just malliterate. Terraforming has been written about, conceptualized, and movie-portrayed by almost all the major sci-fi authors well before the Genesis device in Star Trek.

Oh mercy me, it seems I've poked a "sleeping dragon"

I mean, it's cool to be a nerd and all (especially on this site) but the fact that you referenced an old Star Trek movie instead of, you know, every sci-fi author ever, is quite pathetic.

Well, I dislike being called pathetic, so let's get that out of the way right up front. Do you think you're entitled to a laundry list of citations? IMHO, that one was quite enough.

And areoforming Mars (the Martians get offended if you mention terra) is completely viable, from a scientific standpoint. Kim Stanley Robinson outlines multiple processes to speed things up in his definitive work on the topic, "Red Mars," "Green Mars," "Blue Mars." Which is full of physics flaws (all sci-fi is, especially everything Space-X is doing now) but many viable, real ideas.

Well, when either you, Mosu, or Kim, Stanley Robinson have the ability to change a single day of weather on this planet let alone create an atmospheric environment on another planet, then we can talk. Besides, if the physics won't work, then the concept won't work, period.

As far as good ideas go, warp drive, powering a ship with a black hole, teleportation, and turning a barren planet into mankind's Utopia, are all "good ideas". The imagination never seems to be limited or hindered by such mundane details as cost, practicality, or feasibility. Unfortunately, bringing such things into existence, very much is.

To make a long story longer, if you haven't read that trilogy you really don't know what you're talking about. But your premise is correct: neither Dubai nor America nor anyone else will have a city on Mars any time within this century. Physics was murdered in Copenhagen in the 1920s and it's only now being resurrected. Spoiler alert: nobody in the mainstream is helping with this resurrection.

How about if I just wait for the movie?

I posted this for mosu, but it seems you might benefit from reading it as well;

Actually, if memory serves, the tangible "benefit" from the application of nuclear physics was witnessed by the world on August 6, 1945 at Hiroshima Japan, some 25 years later.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

Actually, if memory serves, the tangible "benefit" from the application of nuclear physics was witnessed by the world on August 6, 1945 at Hiroshima Japan, some 25 years later.

If you want to talk imaginary bullsh!t, about sci-fi which you'd like to try and pass off as fact, you're already in the right place. I'm here for ya buddy.

I've already read what I consider the best piece of Sci-Fi ever written, "Brave New World", by Aldous Huxley. Funny thing though, it didn't center on technology, it centered upon what a pack of unthinking, unfeeling, imbeciles the human race would become. And uh, we're pretty far down that road already.

BTW, if you think you're going to beg us to look for a website for you because we're not "intellectually advanced" enough for you, you might add, "delusionality", to a long list of your other glaring faults.

Hiroshima was most likely firebombed, as well as Nagasaki. Just like Tokyo, Dresden, and hundreds of other cities. The world didn't "witness" anything. The media was silenced under pain of death on both sides, here and in Japan, on the topic for many years. The photo evidence is chock full of holes. And that's before we even get to the physics, which are almost laughable. Of course, you won't believe this coming from a polemic opponent, but we have no evidence that nuclear weapons actually exist.

I'm here for you as well. You're the one that referenced Star Trek 3 as the source the concept of terraforming, not me. You're the one who's evidently only read one sci-fi novel (we have no evidence you've read any others) and somehow thinks that qualifies you for... Whatever you're rambling about. I mean BNW is okay, if you're like eleven. Asimov was much better when I was a child.

And then we get to your prod about anybody needing to be able to change the weather at all before we can approach a planetary climate. I would tend to agree with you, but you use it as a dodge, an ad hom attack. Followed by, "then we can talk." We already are talking, buddy. We're talking about terraforming - something you self-professedly know nothing about along with weather, or you would know that weather isn't climate. You don't even know what heat is. I can say this with full confidence because almost nobody does anyway, and if you haven't researched the topic and read Mathis's papers on it, you cannot know what heat actually is.

I wasn't begging anyone to look at my sources. I was offering Mosu some further information and it had nothing to do with you, as should have been obvious since I addressed that person in my post. Please add, "internet etiquette" to your list of Things to Learn, along with literacy and tact. If you have no desire to learn about these topics, then that's perfectly fine by me. It's precisely because I enjoy learning about these things that I'm so easily able to trounce you in this conversation. You're unarmed.