What are the similarities between Haixi Prefecture in Qinghai, which will soon become the first Mars simulation base in China, and Mars?

In July, the overall scheme seminar and agreement signing ceremony of China Mars Village (simulated Mars base) was held in Delingha City, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, marking the official landing of the first Mars simulation base in China.

Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (hereinafter referred to as "Haixi Prefecture") is located in the hinterland of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and its main body is the Qaidam Basin, which is known as the "cornucopia" of China.

Haixi Prefecture has diverse geographical forms and magnificent natural scenery, including mountains, grasslands, Gobi, deserts, rivers and lakes. The desertification area in Quanzhou is 95,000 square kilometers, accounting for 75.6% of the total desertification area in Qinghai Province. The vast Gobi is endless, with the largest and most typical Ya Dan landform group in China. The unique topography, natural scenery and climatic conditions are very similar to the surface of Mars. In addition, the good location conditions, rich tourism resources and strong tourism development trend on the west bank of the Yangtze River have created basic conditions and provided strong support for the implementation of the Mars simulation base project.

Mars, like the earth, has a variety of topography, including mountains, plains and canyons. Mars is basically a desert planet with sand dunes and gravel on its surface. Because of the small gravity and other factors, the terrain size is different from that of the earth. The topography of the northern and southern hemispheres is in sharp contrast: the northern part is a low plain full of lava, and the southern part is an ancient highland full of craters, which are separated by obvious slopes; Volcanic terrain is interspersed among them, and many canyons are also distributed all over the world. There are polar caps composed of dry ice and water ice in the north and south poles, and aeolian sand dunes are also widely distributed all over the earth. With the increasing number of satellite photography, many intriguing topographical landscapes have been discovered.

In fact, it is more than just a Mars research base. China Mars Simulation Base Project aims to build a creative experience base of "science+science fiction+nature+ecology+culture". In design, it is planned to adopt the spatial layout of "one village and two districts, which are invisible to each other, connected by natural roads and effectively integrated with the surrounding natural landscape", that is, the main part of the project consists of two functional areas: "Mars community" and "Mars camp".