A Chinese-built Mars simulation base in the Gansu province opened its doors to visitors this week. The facility, dubbed Mars Base 1 Camp, comprises several interconnected modules that includes a greenhouse as well as a mock decompression chamber. The first visitors included 100 Chinese schools students who spent five hours touring the pretend space colony. Gansu province officials hope that Mars Base 1 Camp will boost tourism with a plan to invest 2.5 billion yuan ($374m) by 2030 to expand the site to 67 km2 and attract two million visitors a year.
While the backdrop for the Chinese Mars base looks eerily similar to that of the desert planet of Tatooine – the home of Luke Skywalker – many Star Wars fans would have been excited this week when the trailer for Episode IX was released. Rhett Allain over at Wired has been analysing the footage, taking a particular interest in one aspect of the trailer in which Rey supposedly backflips over a TIE fighter zooming towards her. You can read his analysis here. (Spoiler: the force is still strong.)
