Quick take:
- The United Arab Emirates will simulate its panned mars manned mission in the metaverse.
- The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) will offer support for the development of the simulation.
- The project plans to capture the feel of being in space and setting foot on the red planet.
The United Arab Emirates will simulate its planned mars manned mission in the metaverse. The middle eastern country has laid out a plan to send people to the red planet in the year 2117 but wants to make the experience as real as possible 95 years prior to the day.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) will collaborate with Web3 pioneer Bedu to create a unique metaverse experience that will bring the touch and feel of the red planet to life 95 years before the mission date.
The project also aims to establish the challenges of colonising another world, an announcement published on Monday reads.
Commenting on the project, Adnan Al Rais, Mars 2117 programme manager at the MBRSC, said: “As we set our sights on ever more challenging destinations for exploration with humans and robots, innovative ideas and future thinking will be critical to helping us reach new milestones. Concepts like this will be supported by MBRSC as we believe this will help us expand our scope of bigger possibilities.”
The UAE has been one of the leading early adopters of the metaverse and web3. Earlier this year, Dubai revealed a multi-pronged strategy for the metaverse that could create more than 40,000 jobs for the city.
In June, another of its top cities, Ajman launched a virtual police service to help the public by letting them interact with avatars of officers, while one of the country’s largest mall operators Majid Al Futtaim teamed up with leading crypto exchange and blockchain investment company Binance to launch its web3 strategy.
But now, the UAE wants to take things further into space with its latest metaverse project.
The MBRSC will form a committee to work in close collaboration with Bedu. The committee will among other tasks offer advisory, and share data and information on space and Mars.
In return, Bedu will offer its expertise in educating MBRSC about web3 and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which have played a key role in accelerating the adoption of the metaverse.
Amin Al Zarouni, CEO of Bedu, commented: “The UAE is known throughout the world as a pioneer. As it takes its place as a frontrunner in the race to put the first humans on another world, we congratulate Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre for its recent successes and the bold scope of its planned future endeavours.”
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