mars tourism

Did You Know?

Explore mars, inc..

Advancing human exploration of Mars and beyond no later than the 2030s, for a sustainable and inclusive future for us all.

is the only non-profit mentioned in the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017  

has been instrumental in bringing together global stakeholders passionate about Mars?

unites Lunar and Martian communities, advocating for a unified space exploration vision?

champions an inclusive future in space, ensuring every voice is heard.

is at the forefront of ensuring space exploration benefits all of humanity equally.

is committed to ensuring space exploration honors & adheres to the United Nations Suitability goals.

The 2024 Humans to Mars Summit May 7-9, 2024 Washington D.C.

2024 Mars Innovation Challenge Extended Submission Deadline is April 12, 2024 23:59/11:59pm UTC Register Today

The Trades in Space an Explore Mars Initiative Launching May 2024

Community spotlight.

Learn About Why Tiffany is Going to Antarctica for Women in STEMM from tiffany on Vimeo .

In this video, learn about the key reasons why Tiffany and 99 other women scientists from around the world are headed for Antarctica in a once-in-a-lifetime voyage. From improving their leadership skills to tackling the effects of climate change on our planet, this Antarctic voyage sets the stage for empowering women and underrepresented innovators to take effective action in addressing some of humanity's grand challenges.

The voyage is not only about individual growth and development; it also fosters a collaborative and diverse community of like-minded scientists who are committed to making a difference. By bringing together women and underrepresented innovators from various backgrounds, the initiative aims to create a supportive network that can collectively work towards effective climate action.

To donate, please visit https://tinyurl.com/tiffanyHBvoyage or send a message to [email protected]

Your donation supports effective action against climate change at all scales, from individuals to companies and governments, through social equity diversity, representative leadership.

By donating here, you'll be supporting Tiffany’s financial needs for travel, gear, insurance, the voyage, and the leadership program itself. Every dollar helps to build a better future for our planet!

Explore Mars, Inc. is Proud to Support our Partners:

Our Mission: Explore Mars, Inc. is a global community where innovators, pathfinders, and policymakers of all ages collaborate to establish a human presence on Mars no later than the 2030s. We envision a world where the human drive to explore and discover propels us into a thriving, inclusive, and environmentally responsible existence on Earth and beyond. We connect people and organizations, pushing the boundaries of the space ecosystem to welcome stakeholders who are passionate about building a peaceful and prosperous multiplanetary future for decades to come.

Join The Mission

Email address:

I have read and agree to the terms & conditions

SUPPORT THE MISSION

Support our future on Mars with a tax-deductible contribution to Explore Mars, Inc., and help us to make our goal of putting Humans on Mars by 2033 a reality.

What it would be like to travel to Mars as a space tourist

Following is a transcript of the video.

Imagine you could vacation on Mars. At first glance, Mars appears very different from Earth, but if you take a closer look, you'll discover that the Red Planet isn't all that different from our own.

Our first stop, the North Pole. This ice cap is bigger than Texas, and is mostly covered in water ice and solid carbon dioxide, aka dry ice. Heading south, we'll visit Kasei Valles. It's a vast system of chasms five times longer and 10 times wider than the Grand Canyon, and scientists think it formed in a similar way. Billions of years ago, Mars was warmer, and covered with liquid water, which likely carved out valleys like this one.

Mawrth Vallis

Mawrth Vallis is another valley close by, but it looks very different from our previous spot, thanks to its multicolored layers of clay. These deposits probably formed over millennia as Mars shifted towards a colder, drier climate, and they could provide clues to the history of liquid water and possible ancient life on Mars.

Bacquerel Crater

The next stop is another place that may have been teeming with life long ago, Bacquerel Crater. It's filled with rocks made of sulfate similar to ones on Earth that form after water evaporates, which has led scientists to suspect that this crater may once have been a massive lake over 160 kilometers wide.

Next stop, Iani Chaos. Now, this is one type of terrain you won't find anywhere on Earth. It's a maze of rugged cliffs and pillar-like hills called mesas that extend for 200 kilometers, and since there is nothing like it on Earth, scientists aren't exactly sure how these unique features formed. Its larger neighbor, Hydraotes Chaos, probably formed in a similar mysterious way. It stretches 350 kilometers, the same distance as New York City to Boston.

Valles Marineris

West of Hydraotes, we find one Mars's greatest attractions, Valles Marineris. It's the largest canyon in the solar system, running the length of New York to Los Angeles, and plunging four times as deep as the Grand Canyon.

Hebes Chasma

Following the canyon's main channel north, we reach Hebes Chasma. It's tiny compared to Valles Marineris, but it's worth the trek for a glimpse of the chasma's prominent mesa.

Olympus Mons

And no trip to Mars would be complete without a visit to Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system. It covers a region the size of Arizona. It's three times as tall as Mount Everest, and can comfortably fit all the volcanoes in Hawaii.

Promethei Planum

Moving south, we'll see Promethei Planum. It's a plane near the South Pole, covered in a sheet of ice nearly one and a half times as thick as the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Rabe Crater

Next, we'll swing around to Rabe Crater. It's covered in giant sand dunes 150 to 200 meters high, almost as tall as the Golden Gate Bridge.

Neukum Crater

Nearing the end of our tour is one of the oldest regions of Mars that dates back to at least 3.9 billion years ago, Neukum Crater. Scientists think this crater formed from a powerful impact early in Mars's history. In fact, you can still see pockmarks left by the crash.

Galle Crater

The last crater on our tour is formally named Galle Crater, but many call it Happy Face Crater for obvious reasons.

Finally, we've reached our last stop, the South Pole. In 2018, scientists found evidence of a liquid lake beneath the ice, which could be filled with saltwater.

But while that's a promising discovery, we still have much to learn about this fascinating world, like whether life once existed in those ancient lakes, or if it still exists today, possibly somewhere underground. But perhaps the biggest question of all, could human life survive here? Maybe in the future, you won't have to imagine your Martian vacation.

Video credit: ESA / Freie Universitat Berlin Planetary Sciences and Remote Sensing / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published in February 2019.

More from Science

• Main content

Rock Sampled by NASA's Perseverance Embodies Why Rover Came to Mars

Mars has eclipses, too.

NASA's Curiosity Searches for New Clues About Mars' Ancient Water

HELICOPTER BLOG

Unlocking the martian skies.

Perseverance Pays off When Studying the Martian Atmosphere

Rover Images Ingenuity's Final Destination

Data: today's weather (°f), data: today's weather (°c), data: sunrise, sunset, data: atmosphere, data: season, data: pressure, recent images.

Perseverance's 360-Degree View From 'Airey Hill'

Mars Disappearing Solar Wind: MAVEN Visualizations

Curiosity Views Mud Cracks in the Clay-Sulfate Transition Region

Curved Bands of Rocks at 'Skrinkle Haven'

Curiosity Finds a Book-Like Rock

Ingenuity at 'Airfield Mu'

Curiosity Views Feather-Shaped Iridescent Cloud

Perseverance's Three Forks Sample Depot Selfie

Mastcam-Z Views the Eastern Edge of Jezero's Delta

Perseverance Views Depot in the Distance

Compare: distance from sun, compare: deepest canyon, compare: diameter, compare: length of day, compare: highest mountain, compare: largest impact crater, compare: temperature, compare: year, latest findings, april 3, 2024, april 24, 2023, december 21, 2022, october 27, 2022, october 21, 2022, october 20, 2022, october 19, 2022, october 7, 2022, september 19, 2022, september 15, 2022.

Mars’ atmosphere is composed primarily of carbon dioxide (about 96 percent), with minor amounts of other gases such as argon and nitrogen. The atmosphere is very thin, however, and the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Mars is only about 0.6 percent of Earth’s (101,000 pascals).

Scientists think that Mars may have had a thicker atmosphere early in its history, and data from NASA spacecraft (the MAVEN mission) indicate that Mars has lost significant amounts of its atmosphere through time. The primary culprit for Mars’ atmospheric loss is the solar wind!

Astrobiology

Astrobiology is a relatively new field of study, where scientists from a variety of disciplines (astronomy, biology, geology, physics, etc.) work together to understand the potential for life to exist beyond Earth. However, the exploration of Mars has been intertwined with NASA’s search for life from the beginning. The twin Viking landers of 1976 were NASA’s first life detection mission, and although the results from the experiments failed to detect life in the Martian regolith, and resulted in a long period with fewer Mars missions, it was not the end of the fascination that the Astrobiology science community had for the red planet.

The field of Astrobiology saw a resurgence due to the controversy surrounding the possible fossil life in the ALH84001 meteorite, and from the outsized public response to this announcement, and subsequent interest from Congress and the White House, NASA’s Astrobiology Program was formed.

Also at this time, NASA’s Mars Exploration Program began to investigate Mars with an increasing focus on missions to the Red Planet. The Pathfinder Mission and Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) were sent to Mars to “Follow the Water,” recognizing that liquid water is necessary for life to exist on Earth. After establishing that Mars once had significant amount of water on its surface, the Mars Science Laboratory (which includes the Curiosity rover) was sent to Mars to determine whether Mars had the right ingredients in the rocks to host life, signaling a shift to the next theme of “Explore Habitability”. MEP developed the Mars 2020 Rover Mission to determine whether life may have left telltale signatures in the rocks on Mars’s surface, a further shift to the current science theme “Seek the Signs of Life”.

Finding fossils preserved from early Mars might tell us that life once flourished on this planet. We can search for evidence of cells preserved in rocks, or at a much smaller scale: compounds called biosignatures are molecular fossils, specific compounds that give some indication of the organisms that created them. However, over hundreds of millions of years these molecular fossils on Mars are subject to being destroyed or transformed to the point where they may no longer be recognized as biosignatures. Future missions must either find surface regions where erosion from wind-blown sand has recently exposed very ancient material, or alternately samples must be obtained from a shielded region beneath the surface. This latter approach is being taken by the ExoMars rover under development where drilled samples taken from a depth of up to 2 meters will be analyzed.

Get the Scoop on Mars Samples

Learn how Mars Sample Return would retrieve Mars samples collected by the Perseverance rover and bring them to Earth for study.

Latest News

Rock sampled by nasa's perseverance embodies why rover came to mars.

NASA's Curiosity Searches for New Clues About Mars' Ancient Water

Team Assessing SHERLOC Instrument on NASA's Perseverance Rover

Upcoming events, museum of science, st. louis science center, image of the week, weird crater.

Lifting the veil on Mars.

Expanding our robotic presence.

Setting the stage for human exploration.

More About Mars

Why we explore Mars—and what decades of missions have revealed

In the 1960s, humans set out to discover what the red planet has to teach us. Now, NASA is hoping to land the first humans on Mars by the 2030s.

Mars has captivated humans since we first set eyes on it as a star-like object in the night sky. Early on, its reddish hue set the planet apart from its shimmering siblings, each compelling in its own way, but none other tracing a ruddy arc through Earth’s heavens. Then, in the late 1800s, telescopes first revealed a surface full of intriguing features—patterns and landforms that scientists at first wrongly ascribed to a bustling Martian civilization. Now, we know there are no artificial constructions on Mars. But we’ve also learned that, until 3.5 billion years ago, the dry, toxic planet we see today might have once been as habitable as Earth.

Since the 1960s, humans have set out to discover what Mars can teach us about how planets grow and evolve, and whether it has ever hosted alien life. So far, only uncrewed spacecraft have made the trip to the red planet, but that could soon change. NASA is hoping to land the first humans on Mars by the 2030s—and several new missions are launching before then to push exploration forward. Here’s a look at why these journeys are so important—and what humans have learned about Mars through decades of exploration.

Why explore Mars

Over the last century, everything we’ve learned about Mars suggests that the planet was once quite capable of hosting ecosystems—and that it might still be an incubator for microbial life today.

Mars is the fourth rock from the sun, just after Earth. It is just a smidge more than half of Earth’s size , with gravity only 38 percent that of Earth’s. It takes longer than Earth to complete a full orbit around the sun—but it rotates around its axis at roughly the same speed. That’s why one year on Mars lasts for 687 Earth days , while a day on Mars is just 40 minutes longer than on Earth.

Despite its smaller size, the planet’s land area is also roughly equivalent to the surface area of Earth’s continents —meaning that, at least in theory, Mars has the same amount of habitable real estate. Unfortunately, the planet is now wrapped in a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere and cannot support earthly life-forms. Methane gas also periodically appears in the atmosphere of this desiccated world, and the soil contains compounds that would be toxic to life as we know it. Although water does exist on Mars, it’s locked into the planet’s icy polar caps and buried, perhaps in abundance, beneath the Martian surface .

Today, when scientists scrutinize the Martian surface, they see features that are unquestionably the work of ancient, flowing liquids : branching streams, river valleys, basins, and deltas. Those observations suggest that the planet may have once had a vast ocean covering its northern hemisphere. Elsewhere, rainstorms soaked the landscape, lakes pooled, and rivers gushed, carving troughs into the terrain. It was also likely wrapped in a thick atmosphere capable of maintaining liquid water at Martian temperatures and pressures.

FREE BONUS ISSUE

Somewhere during Martian evolution, the planet went through a dramatic transformation, and a world that was once rather Earthlike became the dusty, dry husk we see today. The question now is, what happened? Where did those liquids go, and what happened to the Martian atmosphere ?

Exploring Mars helps scientists learn about momentous shifts in climate that can fundamentally alter planets. It also lets us look for biosignatures, signs that might reveal whether life was abundant in the planet’s past—and if it still exists on Mars today. And, the more we learn about Mars, the better equipped we’ll be to try to make a living there, someday in the future.

Past missions, major discoveries

Since the 1960s, humans have sent dozens of spacecraft to study Mars . Early missions were flybys, with spacecraft furiously snapping photos as they zoomed past. Later, probes pulled into orbit around Mars; more recently, landers and rovers have touched down on the surface.

But sending a spacecraft to Mars is hard , and landing on the planet is even harder. The thin Martian atmosphere makes descent tricky, and more than 60 percent of landing attempts have failed. So far, four space agencies—NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)—have put spacecraft in Martian orbit. With eight successful landings, the United States is the only country that has operated a craft on the planet’s surface. The United Arab Emirates and China might join that club if their recently launched Hope and Tianwen-1 missions reach the red planet safely in February 2021.

Early highlights of Mars missions include NASA's Mariner 4 spacecraft , which swung by Mars in July 1965 and captured the first close-up images of this foreign world. In 1971, the Soviet space program sent the first spacecraft into Martian orbit. Called Mars 3 , it returned roughly eight months of observations about the planet's topography, atmosphere, weather, and geology. The mission also sent a lander to the surface, but it returned data for only about 20 seconds before going quiet.

Over the subsequent decades, orbiters returned far more detailed data on the planet's atmosphere and surface, and finally dispelled the notion, widely held by scientists since the late 1800s, that Martian canals were built by an alien civilization. They also revealed some truly dramatic features: the small world boasts the largest volcanoes in the solar system, and one of the largest canyons yet discovered—a chasm as long as the continental United States. Dust storms regularly sweep over its plains, and winds whip up localized dust devils.

You May Also Like

Why this company sent ancient human fossils into space

Why go back to the moon? NASA’s Artemis program has even bigger ambitions

Second SpaceX megarocket launch ends with another explosion. What happens next?

In 1976, NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 became the first spacecraft to successfully operate on the planet’s surface, returning photos until 1982. They also conducted biological experiments on Martian soil that were designed to uncover signs of life in space—but their results were inconclusive , and scientists still disagree over how to interpret the data.

NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission , launched in 1996, put the first free-moving rover—called Sojourner—on the planet. Its successors include the rovers Spirit and Opportunity , which explored the planet for far longer than expected and returned more than 100,000 images before dust storms obliterated their solar panels in the 2010s.

Now, two NASA spacecraft are active on the Martian surface: InSight is probing the planet’s interior and it has already revealed that “ marsquakes” routinely rattle its surface . The Curiosity rover , launched in 2012, is also still wheeling around in Gale Crater, taking otherworldly selfies, and studying the rocks and sediments deposited in the crater’s ancient lakebed.

Several spacecraft are transmitting data from orbit: NASA’s MAVEN orbiter , Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter , and Mars Odyssey ; ESA’s Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter ; and India’s Mars Orbiter Mission .

Together, these missions have shown scientists that Mars is an active planet that is rich in the ingredients needed for life as we know it—water, organic carbon , and an energy source. Now, the question is: Did life ever evolve on Mars , and is it still around?

Future of Mars exploration

Once every 26 months , Earth and Mars are aligned in a way that minimizes travel times and expense , enabling spacecraft to make the interplanetary journey in roughly half a year. Earth’s space agencies tend to launch probes during these conjunctions, the most recent of which happens in the summer of 2020. Three countries are sending spacecraft to Mars during this window: The United Arab Emirates, which launched its Hope spacecraft on July 20 and will orbit Mars to study its atmosphere and weather patterns; China, which launched its Tianwen-1 on July 23 , and the United States, currently targeting July 30 for the launch of its Perseverance rover .

Perseverance is a large, six-wheeled rover equipped with a suite of sophisticated instruments. Its target is Jezero Crater, site of an ancient river delta , and a likely location for ancient life-forms to have thrived. Once on the surface, Perseverance will study Martian climate and weather, test technologies that could help humans survive on Mars, and collect samples from dozens of rocks that will eventually be brought to Earth. Among its goals is helping to determine whether Mars was—or is—inhabited, making it a true life-finding Mars mission.

All of the robotic activity is, of course, laying the groundwork for sending humans to the next world over. NASA is targeting the 2030s as a reasonable timeframe for setting the first boots on Mars, and is developing a space capsule, Orion , that will be able to ferry humans to the moon and beyond.

Private spaceflight companies such as SpaceX are also getting into the Mars game. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly said that humanity must become “ a multiplanetary species ” if we are to survive, and he is working on a plan that could see a million people living on Mars before the end of this century.

Soon, in one way or another, humanity may finally know whether our neighboring planet ever hosted life—and whether there’s a future for our species on another world.

Related Topics

• SPACE EXPLORATION

What’s out there? Why humanity keeps pushing the cosmic frontier.

'Snakes' on the moon? These helpers could soon join our lunar mission.

Starship’s fiery crash was still a win for the future of spaceflight. Here’s why.

Mars rover takes big steps in its most important mission

Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars?

• History & Culture
• Photography
• Environment
• Paid Content

History & Culture

• History Magazine
• Mind, Body, Wonder
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Your US State Privacy Rights
• Children's Online Privacy Policy
• Interest-Based Ads
• About Nielsen Measurement
• Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
• Nat Geo Home
• Attend a Live Event
• Book a Trip
• Inspire Your Kids
• Shop Nat Geo
• Visit the D.C. Museum
• Learn About Our Impact
• Support Our Mission
• Advertise With Us
• Customer Service
• Renew Subscription
• Manage Your Subscription
• Work at Nat Geo
• Sign Up for Our Newsletters
• Contribute to Protect the Planet

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society Copyright © 2015-2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

Advertisement

Supported by

The Future of Space Tourism Is Now. Well, Not Quite.

From zero-pressure balloon trips to astronaut boot camps, reservations for getting off the planet — or pretending to — are skyrocketing. The prices, however, are still out of this world.

• Share full article

By Debra Kamin

Ilida Alvarez has dreamed of traveling to space since she was a child. But Ms. Alvarez, a legal-mediation firm owner, is afraid of flying, and she isn’t a billionaire — two facts that she was sure, until just a few weeks ago, would keep her fantasy as out of reach as the stars. She was wrong.

Ms. Alvarez, 46, and her husband, Rafael Landestoy, recently booked a flight on a 10-person pressurized capsule that — attached to a massive helium-filled balloon — will gently float to 100,000 feet while passengers sip champagne and recline in ergonomic chairs. The reservation required a $500 deposit; the flight itself will cost $50,000 and last six to 12 hours.

“I feel like it was tailor-made for the chickens like me who don’t want to get on a rocket,” said Ms. Alvarez, whose flight, organized by a company called World View , is scheduled to depart from the Grand Canyon in 2024.

Less than a year after Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson kicked off a commercial space race by blasting into the upper atmosphere within weeks of each other last summer, the global space tourism market is skyrocketing, with dozens of companies now offering reservations for everything from zero-pressure balloon trips to astronaut boot camps and simulated zero-gravity flights. But don’t don your spacesuit just yet. While the financial services company UBS estimates the space travel market will be worth $3 billion by 2030, the Federal Aviation Administration has yet to approve most out-of-this-world trips, and construction has not started on the first space hotel. And while access and options — not to mention launchpads — are burgeoning, space tourism remains astronomically expensive for most.

First, what counts as space travel?

Sixty miles (about 100 kilometers) above our heads lies the Kármán line, the widely accepted aeronautical boundary of the earth’s atmosphere. It’s the boundary used by the Féderátion Aéronautique Internationale, which certifies and controls global astronautical records. But many organizations in the United States, including the F.A.A. and NASA, define everything above 50 miles to be space.

Much of the attention has been focused on a trio of billionaire-led rocket companies: Mr. Bezos’ Blue Origin , whose passengers have included William Shatner; Mr. Branson’s Virgin Galactic , where tickets for a suborbital spaceflight start at $450,000; and Elon Musk’s SpaceX , which in September launched an all-civilian spaceflight, with no trained astronauts on board. Mr. Branson’s inaugural Virgin Galactic flight in 2021 reached about 53 miles, while Blue Origin flies above the 62-mile mark. Both are eclipsed by SpaceX, whose rockets charge far deeper in to the cosmos, reaching more than 120 miles above Earth.

Balloons, like those operated by World View, don’t go nearly as high. But even at their maximum altitude of 18 or 19 miles, operators say they float high enough to show travelers the curvature of the planet, and give them a chance to experience the overview effect — an intense perspective shift that many astronauts say kicks in when you view Earth from above.

Now, how to get there …

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, which are both licensed for passenger space travel by the F.A.A., are open for ticket sales. (Blue Origin remains mum on pricing.) Both companies currently have hundreds or even thousands of earthlings on their wait lists for a whirl to the edge of space. SpaceX charges tens of millions of dollars for its further-reaching flights and is building a new facility in Texas that is currently under F.A.A. review.

Craig Curran is a major space enthusiast — he’s held a reserved seat on a Virgin Galactic flight since 2011 — and the owner of Deprez Travel in Rochester, N.Y. The travel agency has a special space travel arm, Galactic Experiences by Deprez , through which Mr. Curran sells everything from rocket launch tickets to astronaut training.

Sales in the space tourism space, Mr. Curran acknowledges, “are reasonably difficult to make,” and mostly come from peer-to-peer networking. “You can imagine that people who spend $450,000 to go to space probably operate in circles that are not the same as yours and mine,” he said.

Some of Mr. Curran’s most popular offerings include flights where you can experience the same stomach-dropping feeling of zero gravity that astronauts feel in space, which he arranges for clients via chartered, specialized Boeing 727s that are flown in parabolic arcs to mimic being in space. Operators including Zero G also offer the service; the cost is around $8,200.

You can almost count the number of completed space tourist launches on one hand — Blue Origin has had four; SpaceX, two. Virgin Galactic, meanwhile, on Thursday announced the launch of its commercial passenger service, previously scheduled for late 2022, was delayed until early 2023. Many of those on waiting lists are biding their time before blastoff by signing up for training. Axiom Space, which contracts with SpaceX, currently offers NASA-partnered training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. Virgin Galactic, which already offers a “customized Future Astronaut Readiness program” at its Spaceport America facility in New Mexico, is also partnering with NASA to build a training program for private astronauts.

Would-be space tourists should not expect the rigor that NASA astronauts face. Training for Virgin Galactic’s three-hour trips is included in the cost of a ticket and lasts a handful of days; it includes pilot briefings and being “fitted for your bespoke Under Armour spacesuit and boots,” according to its website.

Not ready for a rocket? Balloon rides offer a less hair-raising celestial experience.

“We go to space at 12 miles an hour, which means that it’s very smooth and very gentle. You’re not rocketing away from earth,” said Jane Poynter, a co-founder and co-chief executive of Space Perspective , which is readying its own touristic balloon spaceship, Spaceship Neptune. If all goes according to plan, voyages are scheduled to begin departing from Florida in 2024, at a cost of $125,000 per person. That’s a fraction of the price tag for Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, but still more than double the average annual salary of an American worker.

Neither Space Perspective nor World View has the required approval yet from the F.A.A. to operate flights.

Unique implications

Whether a capsule or a rocket is your transport, the travel insurance company battleface launched a civilian space insurance plan in late 2021, a direct response, said chief executive Sasha Gainullin, to an increase in space tourism interest and infrastructure. Benefits include accidental death and permanent disablement in space and are valid for spaceflights on operators like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, as well as on stratospheric balloon rides. They’ve had many inquiries, Mr. Gainullin said, but no purchases just yet.

“Right now it’s such high-net-worth individuals who are traveling to space, so they probably don’t need insurance,” he said. “But for quote-unquote regular travelers, I think we’ll see some takeups soon.”

And as the industry grows, so perhaps will space travel’s impact on the environment. Not only do rocket launches have immense carbon footprints, even some stratospheric balloon flights have potentially significant implications: World View’s balloons are powered by thousands of cubic meters of helium, which is a limited resource . But Ted Parson, a professor of environmental law at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that space travel’s environmental impact is still dwarfed by civil aviation. And because space travel is ultra-niche, he believes it’s likely to stay that way.

“Despite extensive projections, space tourism is likely to remain a tiny fraction of commercial space exploration,” he said. “It reminds me of tourism on Mt. Everest. It’s the indulgence of very rich people seeking a transcendent, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the local environmental burden is intense.”

Stay a while?

In the future, space enthusiasts insist, travelers won’t be traveling to space just for the ride. They’ll want to stay a while. Orbital Assembly Corporation, a manufacturing company whose goal is to colonize space, is currently building the world’s first space hotels — two ring-shaped properties that will orbit Earth, called Pioneer Station and Voyager Station. The company, quite optimistically, projects an opening date of 2025 for Pioneer Station, with a capacity of 28 guests. The design for the larger Voyager Station , which they say will open in 2027, promises villas and suites, as well as a gym, restaurant and bar. Both provide the ultimate luxury: simulated gravity. Axiom Space , a space infrastructure company, is currently building the world’s first private space station; plans include Philippe Starck-designed accommodations for travelers to spend the night.

Joshua Bush, chief executive of travel agency Avenue Two Travel , has sold a handful of seats on upcoming Virgin Galactic flights to customers. The market for space travel (and the sky-high prices that come with it), he believes, will evolve much like civilian air travel did.

“In the beginning of the 20th century, only very affluent people could afford to fly,” he said. “Just as we have Spirit and Southwest Airlines today, there will be some sort of equivalent of that in space travel, too. Hopefully within my lifetime.”

52 Places for a Changed World

The 2022 list highlights places around the globe where travelers can be part of the solution.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places for a Changed World for 2022.

• The Magazine
• Stay Curious
• The Sciences
• Environment
• Planet Earth

What Would a Trip to Mars Look Like For a Tourist?

A trip to mars wouldn't exactly be a relaxing vacation. learn what it would be like to stay or live on mars..

By NASA’s current estimates, it would take around 2 to 3 years to get to Mars, and that’s on a good day when its orbit comes closest to Earth. And once you get there, it’s not exactly an Eden away from home. Rather, it’s an arid Martian desert with temperatures reaching  -81 degrees Fahrenheit  regularly.

It’s not habitable without spacesuits and a completely enclosed environment because Mars’ air is about  95 percent  carbon dioxide. There’s also no liquid water found on its surface.

But that hasn’t stopped humans from wanting to visit the planet. So what would this outer-planet tourism really entail?

Valentina Sumini , a space architect at MIT Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative, says that there are major challenges right now that would largely preclude tourists from visiting Mars, mostly because of the radiation.

According to  NASA , “Our planet’s magnetic field and atmosphere protect us from harsh cosmic radiation, but without that, you are more exposed,” which can damage the human body and cause all sorts of degenerative diseases. We’d have to find a fix for this before making the voyage. 

What Is Mars Like?

Still, nonetheless, it’s fun to plan. “You’d have to imagine an entirely new type of exploration," says Sumini. In the same way as a trip to Antarctica, a trip to Mars wouldn’t just be about luxury; it would be about having astronauts lead learning experiences around science.

Most of your time as a tourist on Mars would be spent inside, in what Sumini calls “a mix of augmented and virtual reality.” You’d also have to stay in shape and train, working out to fend off the effects of reduced gravity on Mars and microgravity in the voyage getting to the planet.

According to  NASA , without gravity, your bones lose minerals, dropping about 1 percent of bone density per month. And you’d have to stay at least two years to get back to Mars’ shortest orbit from Earth. 

Read More: The First 'Space Hotel' Plans to Open in 2027

Can Plants Grow on Mars?

It would be difficult to grow plants in Mars’ soil because it’s made of regolith, a reddish space dust that contains poisonous compounds of chlorine in molecules called perchlorates.

Researchers have tried growing plants that mimic conditions on Mars using a soil that’s akin and found in a product called  Mars Regolith Simulant . Additionally, you’d have to grow plants that could tolerate shade because, on Mars, you’d get about  60 percent of the light  that you would on Earth.

That’s why, says Sumini, food production would revolve around an indoor hydroponic greenhouse. The greenhouse would also serve as a means for tourists to reconnect to the nature they would be missing back home.

“You’d take a stroll in the greenhouse not just for food production but also for relaxation,” says Sumini. The water coming down from the ceiling would not just feed the plants; it would also recreate the feeling of rain in a world where water could only exist indoors.

Read More: How Scientists Create Oxygen for Astronauts on Prolonged Space Missions

Can We Live on Mars?

All of the elements that we take for granted on Earth would not exist on Mars, and therefore, says Sumini, we would have to imagine what it would feel like to be isolated in such an extreme environment. Including finding a way to reconnect with those you’ve left behind on Earth.

Being a tourist on Mars involves finding ways to deal with all of the elements that make it physically inhospitable. But humans are emotional beings, and survival would be about way more than just staying alive. Sumini contends that our most pressing objective might be finding a way to thrive psychologically on the Red Planet.

Read More: Life on Mars May Have Evolved Like a Nice Risotto – Not Too Moist and Not Too Dry

• human spaceflight
• space exploration
• spaceflight

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Mars tourism

The possibility of Mars tourism is technology dependent and will vary with time.

• A key economic driver is the cost, if it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to visit Mars, the number of tourists will be very low. If it costs a few tens of thousands of dollars, then a significant number of people might choose to visit Mars.
• A second driver is time. Travel times to Mars are significant, and a round trip might take a few years, requiring significant commitment.
• An essential precondition is the existence of an interplanetary spaceship.
• Good radiation shielding on the spaceship to minimize the danger of DNA damage and cancer is required in the long term. The notions of risk and informed consent may come into play for early developments.

Early Mars tourism

Until transportation prices go down significantly, it will be an exotic challenge for rich extreme tourists from Earth . An all-inclusive tour to Mars might consist of an extended space travel (back and forth), a temporary integration in the Martian population , optionally with hard work experience and likely include a surface exploration tour. A very high class working holiday, in a sense.

Later Mars tourism

As travel cost go down, the number of tourists should increase. High velocity travel using fusion drives, as part of a large solar system wide society, might eventually allow for routine tourism that is not limited by the synodic period .

• Tourism can be part of a business model for investors and can be part of the Earth-Mars Trade .
• Any enterprise can be profitable if there is demand and a possibility of profit. Tourism might cost millions of dollars per person but if there are takers, then a business plan is possible. Mass market tourism may not be particularly profitable even for a larger market. However, part of the profits from an early stage of tourism might be used to finance the development of lower cost transportation and housing systems.
• Tourism in 2022 is not possible as there is no vehicle capable of providing the service. However, the eventual availability of the SpaceX Starship will create an opportunity for tourism towards Mars.
• Tourism and exploration are similar activities for the initial development of Mars, as long as there is no military or commercial component to the venture. The use of public funds would support exploration, and as long as the scientific return are significant, exploration is probably a better description than tourism for the first travelers towards Mars, even if self funded.
• Renewable rocket technology changes the costs from hundreds of millions of dollars per trip to merely millions.
• Commerce and Economics
• This page was last edited on 30 September 2022, at 08:16.
• Privacy policy
• About Marspedia
• Disclaimers

Navigation menu

Personal tools.

• Request account
• View source
• Needed Articles
• Recent changes
• Random page

Participating Orgs

• The Mars Society
• Mars Foundation
• The Moon Society
• What links here
• Related changes
• Special pages
• Printable version
• Permanent link
• Page information
• Cite this page

The Prospects for Mars Space Tourism

by Jim Plaxco | Oct 16, 2022 | Commercial Space , Mars Settlement , Space Economics , Space Tourism

(This document was created in 2020 for reference use as a part of an entry in the Mars Society’s Mars City State Design Competition.)

In addressing the question of the size and value of an Earth → Mars tourism industry for the Mars City State Design Competition, there is insufficient hard data on which to draw in order to make reliable quantitative predictions. Therefore, any attempt to quantify the size and nature of a martian tourism industry will be without meaningful numerical value. As a baseline for this analysis, it will be assumed that there are one million people living on Mars and that current dollar values will be used where appropriate.

To date, the focus of space tourism industry studies has been targeted at the suborbital spaceflight tourism market. With respect to suborbital flights, the various space tourism studies have analyzed the impact of ticket price on market size in attempts to estimate total market size and potential industry revenues.

In considering the world’s current population of approximately 7.8 billion, it is estimated that 45 million people have a wealth greater than $1,000,000 US and that an additional 499 million have a wealth in the $100,000 to $1,000,000 range. [1]

While estimates for the total cost of a vacation on Mars are non-quantifiable at this time, Elon Musk has speculated that the price of a one-way flight from Earth to Mars may fall between $200,000 and $500,000. The singular unknown is with respect to cost estimates as to the expense of the actual stay on Mars.

Considering only the 45 million individuals with a wealth of more than $1,000,000, a recent study suggests that 18 percent or 8.1 million would consider spending more than $200,000 on a suborbital flight in today’s environment. [2] This would generate revenues in the range of from $1,620,000,000,000, given a $200,000 ticket price, to $4,050,000,000,000, given a $500,000 ticket price.

A key factor that invalidates the space tourism studies done to date with respect to martian tourism is that of trip duration. A vacation that includes a suborbital trip to LEO could easily be completed in 3-4 days. Similarly, using the Apollo missions as a baseline, trips to the Moon could be completed in time ranges of from less than a week to less than two weeks. [3]

Using the NASA Ames Research Center Trajectory Browser [4] configured to compute all Earth→Mars→Earth trip opportunities with maximum Delta-v set to the allowable maximum value of 20 km/sec, and set to optimize for minimum round trip time, a total of 100 round trip opportunities are identified. For these time-minimizing round trips, Mars-stay-times range from a minimum of 112 days to a maximum of 1,328 days while total trip duration ranges from a minimum of 912 days (2.5 years) to a maximum of 1824 days (5.0 years). These durations stand in stark contrast to the results of a 2012 tourism study that determined that the optimal length for a vacation is 8 days. [5]

The dramatic increase in total vacation duration, 152 times longer than the longest Apollo mission to the Moon, will most likely have an overwhelming impact on the number of people willing to undertake a vacation on Mars. Therefore, in terms of the Mars City State Design Competition and the size of the associated Martian economy, a martian tourism industry should not be considered as a meaningful source of income with which to cover the costs of imports.

Martian Space Tourism Citations

[1] Credit Suisse Research Institute Global Wealth Report 2019

[2] Commercial Viability Evaluation of the Suborbital Space Tourism Industry, New Space, 2018 vol 7, #2, 2019.

[3] The Apollo Program (1963 – 1972), https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo.html

[4] NASA Ames Research Center Trajectory Browser, https://trajbrowser.arc.nasa.gov/traj_browser.php

[5] de Bloom, J., Geurts, S.A.E. & Kompier, M.A.J. Vacation (after-) effects on employee health and well-being, and the role of vacation activities, experiences and sleep. J Happiness Stud 14, 613–633 (2013), https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-012-9345-3

Free Spacewatch Subscription

Latest News

• A Case for AI-Driven Robotic Space Development
• Space Based Technologies to address Global Warming Mitigation – Solar Based Power Stations and Solar Occulus
• 2023 Space Year in Review Webinar
• Porters Five Forces Model Analysis of the Market for Commercial Space Stations

Blog Categories

SpaceX wants to send people to Mars. Here's what the trip might look like.

Even as SpaceX prepares to launch astronauts for the first time , the company is sharing its dreams for human spaceflight on a much grander scale: missions to Mars .

SpaceX's desire to put humans on Mars is nothing new; the company was founded with that goal in mind. But now, the company is testing early versions of the spacecraft it envisions using on such journeys, evaluating potential landing sites and thinking through what a long-term base on the Red Planet might look like many years from now.

"In terms of the vision that we're moving toward, it's really to enable cities on Mars and everything that comes with having a city, having a large and growing population," Paul Wooster, principal Mars development engineer at SpaceX , said during a May 20 meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) focused on human missions to Mars .

"This obviously is a very significant endeavor, something that will take many years, many decades even, to really achieve," he said. But the company is targeting a characteristically ambitious timeline of perhaps 2022 for the first uncrewed missions to Mars, Wooster said.

Full coverage:  SpaceX's historic Demo-2 astronaut launch explained

The vehicle that the company envisions as the workhorse for such a city is the Starship , powered by the Super Heavy booster. The pair is still in development, with SpaceX conducting early tests on a string of Starship prototypes at its site in Texas. No full-size prototype has left the ground yet.

While Wooster said that Super Heavy will be essentially a scaled-up version of the reusable boosters that power the company's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, prototypes of the massive booster have not yet been displayed publicly.

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Nevertheless, Wooster said, SpaceX hopes the pair will come together rapidly enough that the company could consider launching the first uncrewed test missions to Mars during the 2022 window of opportunity. (Mars aligns with Earth favorably for spacecraft missions every 26 months; the upcoming window , in late July and early August 2020, may see three different robotic missions launch to the Red Planet.)

Whatever the timeline of SpaceX's Mars program, here's what the company is envisioning: The Mars journeys would rely on fuel depots stationed in Earth orbit. A Super Heavy booster would launch an individual Mars-bound Starship to Earth orbit, where it would rendezvous with a previously launched Starship full of fuel, which would then pass along that propellant.

Next, the Starship would head to Mars, belly flopping through the atmosphere protected by heat-resistant shielding until it ultimately lands upright. Two or more cargo Starships would launch during the first Mars window.

If this initial batch of flights went smoothly, a crewed Starship could follow, accompanied by more freighters. Although the Starship is discussed as holding 100 people, early missions would likely carry much smaller crews to leave more room for cargo necessary for setting up camp on the Red Planet, Wooster said. SpaceX is hoping to trim the Mars journey to below six months long — perhaps even as short as four months — in order to reduce the radiation that humans would be exposed to during the journey.

As crewed missions arrive on the surface, the first priority would be scouting and processing local supplies. Starships are designed to run on liquid methane-oxygen fuel, Wooster said, in part because of the low cost of those ingredients on Earth but also because scientists believe they can be produced on Mars . Among the first tasks for Starship missions would be mapping the availability and accessibility of the raw materials for that fuel, so humans would have a way to get back home to Earth.

Resources also shape where the company wants to land. SpaceX is focused on two potential sites, Wooster said, one near Arcadia Planitia and Erebus Montes and the other near Phlegra Montes. Both meet some key criteria: They are in the middle swath of the planet where it's easier to land and they're at lower elevations, so the thicker atmosphere will do more of the work to slow an incoming spacecraft.

And, of course, there seems to be lots of ice nearby. "We're very much focusing this landing-site identification effort toward areas that have very significant quantities of water ice ," Wooster said. "That's a very critical resource."

Next will come basic infrastructure like landing pads, habitats, power-generation systems, radiation shelters and greenhouses, Wooster said, although he emphasized that SpaceX is focused on transportation and leaving the development of other pieces to other organizations.

Once a final site is selected and missions begin, Wooster said that he thinks SpaceX might find itself with a little deja vu from its experience developing its Starship testing site near Boca Chica in South Texas . Though residents who lived in the beach community long before SpaceX came to town and have since fended off buyout offers and nearby explosions might disagree.

"This site was very undeveloped when we came in," Wooster said, "so I think we've also been going through a lot of the same types of things as you might eventually experience on Mars in terms of having to set up infrastructure, although obviously a lot easier in terms of having air and such available to you."

• How SpaceX's Starship will help establish a Mars base
• Elon Musk is still thinking big with SpaceX's Starship Mars-colonizing rocket. Really big.
• Elon Musk shows off Starship prototype's rocket engine ahead of test fire (photo)

Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her @meghanbartels . Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook .

<a href="https://www.space.com/your-favorite-magazines-space-science-deal-discount.html" data-link-merchant="space.com"" target="_blank"> OFFER: Save 45% on 'All About Space' 'How it Works' and 'All About History'!

For a limited time, you can take out a digital subscription to any of <a href="https://www.space.com/your-favorite-magazines-space-science-deal-discount.html" data-link-merchant="space.com"" data-link-merchant="space.com"" target="_blank">our best-selling science magazines for just $2.38 per month, or 45% off the standard price for the first three months.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Meghan is a senior writer at Space.com and has more than five years' experience as a science journalist based in New York City. She joined Space.com in July 2018, with previous writing published in outlets including Newsweek and Audubon. Meghan earned an MA in science journalism from New York University and a BA in classics from Georgetown University, and in her free time she enjoys reading and visiting museums. Follow her on Twitter at @meghanbartels.

Spaceflight doubleheader! SpaceX launches 2 rockets in 4-hour span (video)

SpaceX launching 22 Starlink satellites from California tonight

Why I'm going to Missouri near the centerline for the solar eclipse on April 8

• Mergatroid There is really not much information on how Elon and others plan to mitigate the radiation problem. They mention he will try and cut the trip time down to 6-months, but they will still have a problem on Mars since the atmosphere is so thin. Even 6 months is a long time to be in radiation like that. I would be very interested to know how they are going to fix this. Reply
• View All 1 Comment

Most Popular

By Tariq Malik March 31, 2024

By Robert Lea March 31, 2024

By Meredith Garofalo March 31, 2024

By Samantha Mathewson March 31, 2024

By Keith Cooper March 31, 2024

By Alex Farnsworth, Michael Farnsworth, Sebastian Steinig March 30, 2024

By Space.com Staff March 30, 2024

By Jamie Carter March 30, 2024

By Mike Wall March 30, 2024

By Robert Lea March 30, 2024

• 2 New 'Star Wars: Unlimited — Spark of Rebellion' trading card game strikes our galaxy
• 3 There's an April Fools' Day prank about the 2024 solar eclipse — don't fall for it
• 4 April 8 solar eclipse: 6 zoos on the path of totality — and why animals react strangely to 'nighttime during the day'
• 5 How photos of the April 8 solar eclipse will help us understand of the sun's atmosphere

After arriving at Gediz Vallis channel, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this 360-degree panorama using one of its black-and-white navigation cameras on Feb. 3. The formation has scientists intrigued because of what it might tell them about the history of water on the Red Planet.

NASA’s Curiosity Searches for New Clues About Mars’ Ancient Water

The rover has arrived at an area that may show evidence liquid water flowed on this part of Mars for much longer than previously thought.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has begun exploring a new region of Mars, one that could reveal more about when liquid water disappeared once and for all from the Red Planet’s surface. Billions of years ago, Mars was much wetter and probably warmer than it is today. Curiosity is getting a new look into that more Earth-like past as it drives along and eventually crosses the Gediz Vallis channel, a winding, snake-like feature that – from space, at least – appears to have been carved by an ancient river.

That possibility has scientists intrigued. The rover team is searching for evidence that would confirm how the channel was carved into the underlying bedrock. The formation’s sides are steep enough that the team doesn’t think the channel was made by wind. However, debris flows (rapid, wet landslides) or a river carrying rocks and sediment could have had enough energy to chisel into the bedrock. After the channel formed, it was filled with boulders and other debris. Scientists are also eager to learn whether this material was transported by debris flows or dry avalanches.

Pan around inside this 360-degree video to see Gediz Vallis channel from the point of view of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover.

Since 2014, Curiosity has been ascending the foothills of Mount Sharp, which stands 3 miles (5 kilometers) above the floor of Gale Crater. The layers in this lower part of the mountain formed over millions of years amid a changing Martian climate, providing scientists with a way to study how the presence of both water and the chemical ingredients required for life changed over time.

For example, a lower part of those foothills included a layer rich in clay minerals where a lot of water once interacted with rock. Now the rover is exploring a layer enriched with sulfates – salty minerals that often form as water evaporates.

Revising Mount Sharp’s Timeline

It will take months to fully explore the channel, and what scientists learn could revise the timeline for the mountain’s formation.

The steep path NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover took to reach Gediz Vallis channel is indicated in yellow in this visualization made with orbital data. At lower right is the point where the rover veered off to get an up-close look at a ridge formed long ago by debris flows from higher up on Mount Sharp.

Once the sedimentary layers of lower Mount Sharp had been deposited by wind and water, erosion whittled them down to expose the layers visible today. Only after these lengthy processes – as well as intensely dry periods during which the surface of Mount Sharp was a sandy desert – could the Gediz Vallis channel have been carved.

Scientists think the boulders and other debris that subsequently filled the channel came from high up on the mountain, where Curiosity will never go, giving the team a glimpse of what kinds of material may be up there.

“If the channel or the debris pile were formed by liquid water, that’s really interesting. It would mean that fairly late in the story of Mount Sharp – after a long dry period – water came back, and in a big way,” said Curiosity’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Never Miss a Discovery

That explanation would be consistent with one of the most surprising discoveries Curiosity has made while driving up Mount Sharp: Water seems to have come and gone in phases, rather than gradually disappearing as the planet grew drier. These cycles can be seen in evidence of mud cracks ; shallow, salty lakes ; and, directly below the channel, cataclysmic debris flows that piled up to create the sprawling Gediz Vallis ridge.

Last year, Curiosity made a challenging ascent to study the ridge, which drapes across the slopes of Mount Sharp and seems to grow out of the end of the channel, suggesting both are part of one geologic system.

Viewing the Channel Up Close

Curiosity documented the channel with a 360-degree black-and-white panorama from the rover’s left navigation camera. Taken on Feb. 3 (the 4,086th Martian day, or sol, of the mission), the image shows the dark sand that fills one side of the channel and a debris pile rising just behind the sand. In the opposite direction is the steep slope that Curiosity climbed to reach this area.

The rover takes these kinds of panoramas with its navigation cameras at the end of each drive. Now the science team is relying on the navcams even more while engineers try to resolve an issue that is limiting the use of one imager belonging to the color Mast Camera, or Mastcam.

More About the Mission

Curiosity was built by JPL, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more about Curiosity, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl

News Media Contact

Andrew Good

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-393-2433

[email protected]

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson

NASA Headquarters, Washington

301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501

[email protected] / [email protected]

Elon Musk Claims ‘Almost Anyone’ Can Afford $100,000 Ticket to Mars Through Work and Saving, Despite Financial Challenges for Majority

E lon Musk’s vision for affordable travel to Mars, outlined during a conversation with Chris Anderson at a TED conference in 2022, represents a significant leap forward in human space exploration. Musk’s suggestion that a ticket to Mars could potentially be priced at $100,000 aims to democratize access to space colonization, envisioning a future where such journeys are within reach for a broader segment of the population. SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace company, has been at the forefront of efforts to make this vision a reality, with ambitious plans to establish a self-sustaining city on Mars in the coming decades.

Central to Musk’s strategy is the development and successful launch of the Starship rocket, which represents a crucial milestone in achieving the goal of affordable Mars travel. However, the journey towards realizing this vision is not without challenges, as demonstrated by the recent loss of a Starship rocket during reentry following its third successful launch into space. This highlights the ongoing complexities and achievements in space exploration.

Musk envisions a future where individuals can finance their journey to Mars through various means, including selling assets, government sponsorship, or loans. By making Mars travel economically feasible for approximately 1 million people, Musk believes it will be possible to establish a thriving city on the red planet.

However, Musk’s statement has sparked debate regarding its realism and sensitivity to economic disparities. With many Americans facing financial constraints and struggling to save for even small emergency expenses, the idea of setting aside $100,000 for a trip to Mars seems impractical for a large portion of the population. Critics, including former President Barack Obama, have emphasized the importance of addressing pressing challenges on Earth before venturing into extraterrestrial colonization, highlighting the need for environmental conservation and sustainable development.

In today’s financial climate, where saving for significant life goals can be challenging, Musk’s vision underscores the value of smart financial planning. Whether one’s aspirations involve retiring comfortably, buying a home, or contemplating interplanetary travel, seeking advice from a financial advisor is crucial to aligning financial plans with long-term goals.

As SpaceX continues to advance its technology for Mars missions, the discussion surrounding affordable space travel raises important questions about priorities and the inclusivity of future space communities. The ethical, financial, and environmental implications of space colonization are likely to remain topics of intense debate as humanity ventures further into the cosmos.

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer

TravelAwaits

Our mission is to serve the 50+ traveler who's ready to cross a few items off their bucket list.

19 Unique And Fabulous Experiences In Moscow

• Destinations

Thinking of visiting Russia? When visiting such a famous city, one must, of course, visit the iconic landmarks first. Moscow has plenty of those, most of them in the center of the city, which is very well-planned for tourists. Once you’ve seen the sights that are on most travelers’ lists, it’s time to branch out and visit some of the lesser-known sites, and there are some fascinating places to see and things to do.

I know this list is long, but I just couldn’t help myself. You probably won’t have the time to see them all. But that’s okay. Just scroll through the list and choose what sounds the most interesting to you. Where possible, make sure to book in advance, as things can get crowded, especially during high season.

1. The Red Square, Kremlin, And Surroundings

Red Square (Krasnya Ploshad) is the heart and soul of Russia, and where much of the country’s history has unfolded. This is the most famous landmark in Moscow and indeed the whole country, it’s an absolute must-do! The square is always full of people and has a rather festive atmosphere!

Saint Basil’s Cathedral

This is the famous church with the rainbow-colored, onion-domed roof. The cathedral was commissioned in the 1500s by Ivan the Terrible and according to legend, the Tsar thought it was so beautiful, that he ordered that the architect’s eyes be cut out afterward, so he could never build anything more beautiful! He wasn’t called Ivan the Terrible for no reason!

Lenin’s Mausoleum

The “love-it-or-hate-it” of tourist attractions in Russia. A glass sarcophagus containing the embalmed body of Russian revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin. It may seem a bit bizarre to display the mummy of a person, but it has been there for almost half a century and the 2.5 million visitors who come each year, clearly feel the queuing and thorough body search are worth it, to be in Lenin’s presence.

Pro Tip: no photos and no loud talking are allowed inside the Mausoleum.

Eternal Flame

There is an Eternal Flame in honor of an unknown soldier on the left side of Red Square. The hourly changing of the guards is worth seeing.

The Kremlin is the official residence of the Russian president. You can see it from the outside, or you can take an excursion to one of the museums located inside. This is the biggest active fortress in Europe, and holds a week’s worth of attractions! Once behind the 7,332-feet of walls, there are five squares, four cathedrals, 20 towers, various museums, and the world’s largest bell and cannon to see. Worth a special mention is the Armory Chamber that houses a collection of the famous Faberge Eggs.

Pro Tip: You can only go inside the Kremlin if you are part of a tourist group.

2. Bolshoi Theatre

Bolshoi Theatre translates to “The Big Theatre” in Russian, and the building is home to both the Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera — among the oldest and most famous ballet and opera companies in the world.

Pro Tip: It’s hard to get an inexpensive ticket, so if you’re reading well in advance of going to Moscow then try buying tickets on the official website . Last-minute tickets cost around $250 per person. If this is out of your budget, about an hour before a performance, you can try buying a ticket at the entrance from a reseller. Most can speak enough English to negotiate the price.

Tour the Bolshoi Theatre: You can take a group guided tour of the Bolshoi Theatre which focuses on the history and architecture of the theatre and behind the scenes. There’s an English language tour that lasts 2 hours and costs around $300 for a group of up to six.

3. Luxury Shopping At GUM And TSUM

Russia’s main department store, GUM, has a stunning interior that is home to over 100 high-end boutiques, selling a variety of brands: from luxurious Dior to the more affordable Zara. Even if shopping is not on your Moscow to-do list GUM is still worth a visit; the glass-roofed arcade faces Red Square and offers a variety of classy eateries. TSUM, one of the biggest luxury malls in town, is right behind the Bolshoi and GUM. It’s an imposing building with lots of history, and worth a visit just for its design and its glass roof.

4. Christ The Savior Cathedral

This is one of Russia’s most visited cathedrals and is a newer addition to the gorgeous array of Muscovite cathedrals, but don’t let its young age fool you. After perestroika, in the early 90s, the revived Russian Orthodox Church was given permission to build a cathedral on this site. It did the location honors and built the largest temple of the Christian Orthodox Church. The façade is as grand as you’d expect, but it’s the inside that will mesmerize you, with its domes, gold, gorgeous paintings, and decor!

The cathedral is located just a few hundred feet away from the Kremlin and was the site of the infamous Pussy Riot protest against Putin back in 2012.

Pro Tip: Bring a shawl to cover your hair as is the local custom.

5. Gorky Park

Moscow’s premier green space, Gorky Park (Park Gor’kogo) is the city’s biggest and most famous park. There is entertainment on offer here for every taste, from outdoor dancing sessions to yoga classes, volleyball, ping-pong, rollerblading, and bike and boat rental in summer. In winter, half the park turns into a huge ice skating rink. Gorky Park is also home to an open-air movie theater and the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. There is also Muzeon Art Park, a dynamic contemporary space with a unique collection of 700 sculptures. It is located right in front of Gorky Park.

6. Sparrow Hills Park

If you take a walk from Gorky Park, along the Moscow River embankment, you’ll end up in the city’s other legendary park, Sparrow Hills. Although the park doesn’t offer as many activities as its hip neighbor, it has a great panoramic view of the city

Pro Tip: You can take a free walking tour to all of the above attractions with an English-speaking guide.

7. River Cruising

One of the best ways to experience Moscow, and see all the famous landmarks, but from a different angle, is from the Moscow River. Take a river cruise. Avoid the tourist crowds. There are little nameless old boats that do the cruise, but if you are looking for a more luxurious experience take the Radisson Blu cruise and enjoy the sights with some good food and a glass of wine.

8. Metro Hopping

Inaugurated in the 1930s, the Moscow Metro system is one of the oldest and most beautiful in the world. Started in Stalinist times, each station is a work of art in its own right. I’d recommend touring the stations between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. This way, you’ll be able to properly see it without the crowds. Ideally, I’d recommend taking a tour with a knowledgeable guide with GuruWalk, who will tell you stories of forgotten stations and how the history of the country is interconnected with the metro development. If going by yourself, then I definitely recommend checking out: Mayakovskaya, Ploschad Revolutsii, Kievskaya, Kropotkinskaya, Kurskaya, and Novoslobodskaya stations.

Visit the free Moscow Metro Museum: For real train enthusiasts, located in the southern vestibule of Sportivnaya station is a small free museum. Here you can take a peek into the driver’s cabin, see a collection of metro tokens from different cities, and see different models of a turnstile, traffic lights, escalator, and more.

9. Moscow State University View

In his effort to create a grander Moscow, Stalin had seven skyscrapers built in different parts of town; they’re called the Seven Sisters. The largest of these buildings and the one with the best view is the main building of the Moscow State University. Although this is a little outside the city center, the view is more than worth it.

10. Izmailovsky Market

Mostly known for the city’s largest flea market, the district of Izmaylovo is home to a maze of shops where you can get just about anything, from artisan crafts to traditional fur hats, handcrafted jewelry, fascinating Soviet memorabilia, and antiquities. It’s also one of Moscow’s largest green spaces. There are often no price tags, so be prepared to haggle a bit. Head to one of the market cafes for a warming mulled wine before continuing your shopping spree.

The History of Vodka Museum is found here, and the museum’s restaurant is the perfect place to sample various brands of the national drink.

Once you’ve covered the more touristy spots, Moscow still has plenty to offer, and the places below will also be full of locals! So for some local vibes, I would strongly recommend the spots below!

11. Moscow City

With a completely different vibe, Moscow City (also referred to as Moscow International Business Center) is like a mini Dubai, with lots of impressive tall glass buildings. Here is where you’ll find the best rooftops in towns, like Ruski Restaurant, the highest restaurant both in Moscow City and in Europe. Moscow City is great for crowd-free shopping and the best panoramic views of the city.

12. Tretyakov Gallery

Tretyakov Gallery started as the private collection of the Tretyakov brothers, who were 19th-century philanthropists. They gave their private collection to the government after their deaths. If there is just one museum you visit in Moscow, I recommend this one!

13. Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve

Tsaritsyno was a residence of Catherine the Great more than two centuries ago. It became derelict during the Soviet era but has now been fully renovated. With its opulently decorated buildings, gardens, meadows, and forests, Tsaritsyno Park is the perfect place for a green respite in Moscow.

14. Kolomenskoye

A 10-minute metro ride from the city center is Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve, where you can get an idea of what Russia looked like 200 years ago. You’ll find ancient churches (one dating back to the 16th century), the oldest garden in Moscow, and the wonderful fairytale wooden palace of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich, father of Peter the Great.

15. Ostankino TV Tower

Built in 1967, Ostankino TV Tower was the tallest free-standing construction in the world at the time, it’s still the 8th tallest building in the world and the highest in Europe. It’s also the best observation deck, with a glass floor and 360-degree views. The speedy elevators take you 1,105 feet in next to no time.

Pro Tip: You need to book in advance; entrance is based on specific ticket times and the capacity is limited and only a certain number of tourists are allowed per day. Don’t forget your passport, you’ll need it to get through security.

16. Zaryadye Park

Zaryadye is a newly opened, landscaped urban park so new you won’t find it in a lot of tour guides. The park is near Red Square and is divided into four climatic zones: forest, steppe, tundra, and floodplains, depicting the variety of climatic zones in Russia.

These last three suggestions are a little quirky, but all are really worth checking out.

17. Museum Of Soviet Arcade Games

Release your inner child playing on 66 arcade machines from the Soviet era! What a great way to spend a couple of hours when tired of visiting museums and palaces. The staff speaks excellent English and are happy to explain how the games work.

18. Moscow Rooftop Tour

Take a 1-hour private Moscow rooftop tour with an experienced roofer. I can just about guarantee none of your friends will be able to say they’ve done it! For your comfort, I recommend wearing comfortable shoes. Take your camera, there are some amazing photo opportunities out there!

19. Sanduny Banya

This classical Russian bathhouse opened its doors in 1808 and is famous for combining traditional Russian banya services with luxurious interiors and service. If you enjoy spas and saunas, then you should experience a Russian bathhouse at least once in your life! Go with an open mind and hire a specialist to steam you as it’s meant to be done — by being beaten repeatedly with a besom (a leafy branch)! This is said to improve circulation, but is best done by a professional!

So there you have my list of things to do in Moscow. I could have gone on and on and on, but I didn’t want to try your patience! There are so many things to do in this vibrant city that you’ll definitely need to allocate several days for exploring.

Here are some other reasons to visit Moscow and Russia:

• 7 Reasons To Put Moscow On Your Travel Bucket List
• Russia 30 Years (And 30 Pounds) Ago
• Massive Mysterious Craters Appearing Again In Siberia

Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, before moving to Africa at the age of 21, Sarah Kingdom is a mountain climber and guide, traveler, yoga teacher, trail runner, and mother of two. When she is not climbing or traveling she lives on a cattle ranch in central Zambia. She guides and runs trips regularly in India, Nepal, Tibet, Russia, and Ethiopia, taking climbers up Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro numerous times a year.

• International

Israel-Hamas war

Taiwan quake

March 23, 2024 Shooting at Moscow concert venue leaves over 130 dead

By Chris Lau, Andrew Raine , Catherine Nicholls, Issy Ronald, Lauren Said-Moorhouse and Tori B. Powell , CNN

Our live coverage of the Moscow concert venue shooting has moved here.

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un sends condolences to Russia’s Putin over deadly Moscow attack

From CNN’s Sophie Jeong and Manveena Suri

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has offered his condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the deadly concert attack in Moscow, state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sunday.

Kim “expressed deep condolences and sympathy” to Putin, the Russian people, the victims and their families on the news of heavy casualties caused by a “large-scale terrorist attack in (the) Moscow region,” KCNA reported.

North Korea opposes “all sorts of terrorism and nothing can justify the heinous terrorism threatening human life,” Kim said in the KCNA report. “Our people regard the misfortune and sorrow of the friendly Russian people as their own pain.”

ISIS releases graphic video they claim shows Russia concert hall attack

From CNN's Kareem El Damanhoury and Paul Murphy

ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq released a graphic video on Saturday that purports to show Friday’s attack at a concert hall in suburban Moscow recorded by one of the attackers, suggesting the perpetrators had a direct link to ISIS in order to be able to send the video.

CNN has geolocated it to the concert hall and notes that its identifying metadata has been erased.

The video, which is about 90 seconds long, shows four attackers with their faces blurred and voices distorted in what appears to be the Crocus City Hall complex.

The video shows one attacker signaling to another gunman, who then walks past a door where people are hiding and opens fire on them.

Bodies and blood can be seen on the floor, with fire raging at a distance.

The video also shows one of the attackers slitting the throat of a man lying on his back.

The video ends with the four attackers walking away inside the building as smoke can be seen at a distance.

On Friday, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a short statement published by Amaq.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Ukraine was behind the attack, stating the perpetrators had “tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the border.”

Ukraine has vehemently denied any connection to Friday's attack.

Company that owns Crocus City Hall venue calls attack a "monstrous tragedy"

From CNN's Masha Angelova

The Russian company Crocus International, which owns Crocus City Hall, expressed its deep condolences in a statement Sunday to the victims of the terrorist attack at the concert hall in the Moscow region Friday, which left more than 130 people dead.

"Together with the whole of Russia, we mourn the dead and hope for a speedy recovery of those who’ve suffered in this monstrous tragedy," the company said. "In these difficult days, we are doing and will do everything possible to help the authorities and special services with their difficult work, and together with the whole country help victims of the terrorist attack."

The statement thanked concert-goers, partners and artists for their support and assistance.

"Special thanks to the concert hall team, who acted professionally, clearly, and heroically in a crisis situation, and thanks to this, managed to save most of the guests and employees who were in Crocus City Hall that evening," it continued.

White House says there was "no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever" in Moscow region onslaught

From CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Samantha Waldenberg

US Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House National Security Council said there is no evidence that Ukraine is behind the attack at a concert hall near Moscow.

“There is no, whatsoever, any evidence — and in fact, what we know to be the case is that ISIS-K is actually, by all accounts, responsible for what happened,” Harris said in an interview with ABC News. “What has happened is an act of terrorism and the number of people who've been killed is obviously a tragedy and we should all send our condolences to those families."

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said:

"In early March, the US government shared information with Russia about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow. We also issued a public advisory to Americans in Russia on March 7. ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever."

US had warned Russia ISIS was determined to attack | CNN

Here's what you should know about the moscow area concert venue shooting.

From CNN staff

A Friday night attack at Crocus City Hall, a popular concert venue complex near Moscow, left more than 130 people killed and even more wounded after assailants stormed the venue with guns and incendiary devices. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, without providing evidence.

Four suspects involved in the attack were detained in the Bryansk region and taken to Moscow, where they are now in the custody of Russia's Investigative Committee, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said "miserable" Russian President Vladimir Putin waited   overnight before publicly addressing Russians, only to accuse   Ukraine of having a hand in the terror attack at a concert hall near Moscow.

Here are other headlines you should know:

• More on the attack: According to the interior ministry, “all terrorists detained in the Bryansk region are foreign citizens ,” Russian state media reported. RIA Novosti published on Telegram the purported confession of one of the apprehended men. CNN cannot independently verify the RIA Novosti report or the statements made by the alleged attacker, which may have been made under duress.
• Ukraine vehemently denies any connection: Defense Intelligence of Ukraine spokesperson Andrii Yusov firmly denied his country had anything to do with the terror attack. Earlier Saturday, Putin  told the Russian people  that the perpetrators had “tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the border." A handful of Russian officials have suggested  without evidence  that Ukraine may have been involved in the attack as well.
• Global reactions: Leaders around the world — such as the French, Israeli and Turkish presidents — have expressed their condolences and condemnation of the onslaught. The United States “ strongly condemns ” the shooting, according to the White House and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also denounced the attack , stressing that ISIS is a significant global threat at a news conference Saturday.
• Belarus claims it thwarted suspects: Belarusian special services helped Russia prevent the "terrorists" who allegedly carried out the deadly attack from escaping across the border Friday night, the country's ambassador in Moscow said.
• Estimated damage total: The total estimated damage to the Moscow region's Crocus City Hall after Friday's terror attack is between 9.5-11.4 billion rubles, or approximately $103-124 million, according to a shopping union vice president, as reported by Russian state media RIA Novosti.

Zelensky accuses Putin of trying to blame concert hall attack on Ukraine

From CNN's Maria Kostenko

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said "miserable" Russian President Vladimir Putin waited overnight before publicly addressing Russians, only to accuse Ukraine of having a hand in the terror attack at a concert hall near Moscow.

On Saturday, Putin told the Russian people that the perpetrators of the Crocus City Hall attack had “tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the border.”

Zelensky and several Ukrainian officials have vehemently denied Ukraine has any kind of involvement in the attack.

In his nightly address, Zelensky also said that Russians "have come to Ukraine, burn our cities – and try to blame Ukraine."

Zelensky added that if the Russian people do "not ask any questions to their security and intelligence agencies, then Putin will try to turn such a situation to his personal advantage again."

More background: The terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for Russia's attack, according to a short statement published by ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq on Telegram Friday. ISIS has not provided evidence to support the claim.

Earlier this week, Putin had dismissed warnings by the US embassy that there could be terrorist attacks on large groups, telling the Federal Security Service (FSB) that the embassy warnings were "provocative" and "outright blackmail."

White House "strongly condemns" Moscow region terror attack

From CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Saturday that the United States “strongly condemns” the terrorist attack at a concert venue complex near Moscow that left at least 133 people dead.

She added that ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for the attack without providing evidence, is a “common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere.”

“We extend our deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones and to those who were injured or affected by these unconscionable attacks against innocent civilians," Jean-Pierre said in a statement issued by the White House. "ISIS is a common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere."

4 suspects in Friday's attack are being questioned by Russian investigators, state media reports

Four suspects in Friday's terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall were detained in the Bryansk region and taken to Moscow, where they are now in the custody of Russia's Investigative Committee, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday.

The suspects were brought in two prisoner transport vehicles, which are still in the courtyard of the committee, a TASS correspondent reported. This indicates that the suspects are being interrogated and the investigation is ongoing, according to TASS.

In the coming days, investigators are expected to file a court motion asking for imprisonment as the chosen preventative measure. All four suspects face life imprisonment, TASS reports.

Please enable JavaScript for a better experience.

• Burda Luxury
• Prestige Online
• Pin Prestige
• TRAVEL+LEISURE

A survival guide to Bruno Mars: Live in Singapore 2024 concerts at National Stadium

Following Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars is the third global pop artist to perform at Singapore’s National Stadium this year. The American musician will perform three sold-out dates in April 2024. Find out how to get through one of 2024’s biggest gigs with this survival guide of Bruno Mars concerts in Singapore – from how to get there and what to bring, to the song setlist you can expect.

Multi-award-winning pop star Bruno Mars will hit the 55,000 pax-capacity National Stadium stage in Singapore to perform three sold-out shows in April 2024. Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and Taylor Swift also achieved this same sold-out feat for their concerts.

The ‘Uptown Funk’ hitmaker last performed in Singapore back in 2014 and 2018. Both were at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Thus, this upcoming gig is his first performance in a large venue.

Although Mars’ latest music is with Anderson .Paak under the duo’s moniker Silk Sonic, he is expected to belt out songs from his third and most recent album, 24K Magic.

For a stress-free concert experience, pre-planning is essential to ensure maximum enjoyment. You know the drill by now. Read on for our complete guide on how to survive through the funk-ed-up night, that is, the Bruno Mars concert in Singapore this April 2024.

Here’s your must-have survival guide to Bruno Mars: Live in Singapore 2024 concerts:

Important details of the bruno mars: live in singapore 2024 concerts.

Address : Singapore National Stadium, 1 Stadium Drive, Singapore 397629

Starting time : 8pm for all shows. Doors will open, starting with VIP standing ticket holders, from 5:30pm. There is no opening act for this concert.

Duration of concert : Approximately 120 minutes

How to get to the National Stadium in Singapore

Because parking is limited, arriving via public transport like train or bus is advisable at least one hour before the show starts. This will help minimise disruption to traffic flow.

Train  – Alight at Stadium MRT Station (CC6) on the Circle Line. It is the nearest station which exits directly into the Singapore Sports Hub.

Alternatively, visitors can travel from Mountbatten MRT Station (CC7) or Kallang MRT Station (EW10). Both are approximately 600m walking distance to Singapore Sports Hub. The former also serves as an alternative station via the Circle Line for leaving the venue.

Bus  – Alight at Stadium Station (80199) for Bus 11, National Stadium (80219) for Bus 10, 14, 16, 16M, 70, 196, and Opposite National Stadium (80211) for Bus 10, 14, 16, 16M, 70, 196.

When and how to enter: Standing Pen Ticket Holders

Silver VIP and Priority Standing Ticket Holders

Entry to the venue is subjected to security checks. Ticket holders can proceed to the security checkpoints when they open at 4:30pm.

Entrance for the Silver VIP Package & Priority Standing ticket holders is located at 100PLUS Promenade, Gate 22 (Level 3). Ticket holders can enter the venue when the gates open at 5:30pm.

General Standing Ticket Holders

The entrance for the General Standing ticket holders is located at 100PLUS Promenade, Gate 11, 12, 15 & 21 (Level 3).

Entry to the venue is subjected to security checks. Ticket holders can proceed to the security checkpoints when they open at 4:30pm. Ticket holders can enter the venue when the gates open at 5:45pm.

When and how to enter: Seated Area Ticket Holders

Entry to the venue is subjected to security checks. Ticket holders can proceed to the security check points when it opens at 5:30pm. Ticket holders can enter the venue when the gates open at 6pm.

For Gold and Silver VIP Package Holders

Wristband Redemption:

All Gold and Silver VIP Package Holders must redeem their wristbands before admission. Wristband redemption is only valid on the show day indicated on your ticket(s) and do prepare your ticket(s) upon wristband redemption.

Location & Timing : OCBC Square, from 3pm to 9pm.

Redemption of VIP Merchandise:

Redemption of VIP Merchandise can only be done after the show ends and only valid on the show day indicated on your tickets. Present your wristband upon collection. VIP Merchandise redemption must be done on the same day at the venue. All uncollected items will be forfeited.

Location & Timing: OCBC Square, from show end until 11:30pm

VIP Express Bar Queue

There will be dedicated express bar queues for Gold and Silver VIP ticket holders inside the venue. Do present your VIP wristband for verification.

What to bring (and not to bring) + security screening

Concert-goers should adhere to the following Singapore Sports Hub admission policy to ensure seamless entry into the National Stadium on the three concert dates. Also, carry only the essentials for quick security checks. Attendees are also encouraged to stay hydrated throughout to prevent over-exhaustion and hyperthermia.

• Admission to show/venue by full ticket only. Printed/electronic tickets must be produced for admission.
• Have e-tickets ready and brighten your mobile screens for ushers to scan you in easily.
• No outside food and beverages are allowed into the venue.
• Personal water bottles are to be emptied before entering the venue; clear bottles are preferred.
• Bags exceeding 35cm x 20cm x 30cm are not allowed into the venue.
• Noise makers are not permitted in the venue (including but not limited to: air horn, whistle, etc.)

Child Policy

• Children aged 3 and above must purchase a ticket for admission.
• No admission for infants in arms and children aged below 3 years old.
• Children under 12 years old or below 1.2m in height are not allowed into the standing areas.

Audio, Photography & Videography Policy

• No professional photography, videography, and social media live streaming are allowed.
• Strictly no cameras, video cameras, GoPros, iPads and tablets.
• No selfie sticks, tripods and monopods.

Where to get official Bruno Mars: Live in Singapore 2024 merchandise

Bruno Mars: Live in Singapore 2024’s official merchandise booths are located at OCBC Square and South Dome Deck. There are also merchandise booths within the National Stadium Gate 3 and 9 (Level 3) for designated ticket holders on the Concert Floor (Level 1) and Sections 101 to 150.

There will also be dedicated queues for Gold and Silver VIP ticket holders. These are only available at OCBC Square and South Dome Deck merchandise booths. Present your VIP wristband upon entry.

• Payment Terms: Cashless Payment Only – VISA, Mastercard, JBC, PayNow, ApplePay, GooglePay, Samsung Pay, Singtel Dash, UnionPay, Android Pay, EZ-Link, WeChat Pay, AliPay. Cash will NOT be accepted.
• Strictly no overnight queueing allowed.
• Merchandise available on a while stock last basis.
• Refunds/exchanges are only applicable to damaged or defective items that are purchased at the concert site, so please check your items before leaving the counter.
• Strictly no refunds/exchanges will be made once you leave the counter.
• The organiser reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions.⁠

What to expect for Bruno Mars: Live in Singapore 2024 (and setlist)

The Bruno Mars: Live in Singapore 2024 concert setlist is pretty much consistent across all his Asia stops so far, as well as his Las Vegas residency.

Bruno Mars: Live in Singapore 2024 expected concert setlist

1. 24K Magic 2. Finesse 3. Treasure 4. Liquor Store Blues / Billionaire 5. Perm 6. Calling All My Lovelies / Wake Up In The Sky 7. That’s What I Like/Please Me 8. Guitar & Saxophone Solo 9. Versace on the Floor 10. It Will Rain 11. Marry You 12. Drum Solo by Eric “E-Panda” 13. Runaway Baby 14. Fuck You / Young, Wild and Free / Grenade / Talking to the Moon / Nothin’ on You / Leave the Door Open 15. When I Was Your Man 16. Piano Solo 17. Locked Out of Heaven 18. Just the Way You Are 19. Uptown Funk (Encore)

The above setlist is from his recent Bangkok leg which concluded on 31 March 2024.

Bruno Mars Official After-party at Marquee Singapore

For those who didn’t secure tickets to the concert, you still have a chance to see the singer himself. After Mars’ final show on April 6, he will host an official after-party at Marquee Singapore. He is set to wrap up the Singapore leg with a party at Marquee Singapore.

Details for Bruno Mars’s official after-party at Marquee Singapore:

Online Tickets* General Admission (Online Special): $100 (inclusive of 1 drink voucher) Expedited Entry: $300 (inclusive of 2 drink vouchers) *prices are exclusive of booking fee and GST. Get your tickets online through Marquee Singapore website .

At the Door General Admission: $150 (inclusive of 1 drink voucher) Expedited Entry: $300 (inclusive of 1 drink voucher)

Doors will open at 10pm and the party will happen till April 7, 6am.

Location : 2 Bayfront Avenue, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, Galleria Level B1-67, Singapore 018972

( Hero and featured image: Live Nation; Other images: Singapore Sports Hub )

Derrick Tan

Derrick believes in Anais Nin's quote, "We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect." Always craving knowledge with a child-like mindset, he recognises the importance of digital journalism in the current state of media consumption. During downtime, he reads periodicals to keep up with current affairs and subcultures, being a wayfarer and can be seen at live music concerts.

Yes, I agree to the Privacy Policy

Most Popular

Recommended for you

XG announces first world tour in 2024 with stop in Singapore

The best and most anticipated 2024 music concerts and festivals in Singapore

K-pop girl group BABYMONSTER to hold first fanmeet in Singapore

Osteria Mozza to feature Nancy Silverton’s Chi Spacca burgers this March 2024

Follow our daily snapshots at @lifestyleasiasg

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest updates.

You’re all set

Thank you for your subscription.

Résultat et résumé : Tour des Flandres 2024

Dimanche 31 mars 2024 départ à 10h22 anvers - audenarde, 270.8 kms.

• afficher uniquement les temps forts (26)

Merci à toutes et à tous de nous avoir suivi pour la 108e édition du Tour des Flandres et la victoire de Mathieu Van der Poel. Rendez-vous dans une semaine pour Paris-Roubaix.

Un coureur français dans le Top 20

Valentin Madouas est le seul coureur français présent dans le Top 20. Il termine la course à la 16e place.

Le nouveau roi des Flandres

Mathieu van der poel en 2024.

C'est le 2e succès du Néerlandais en 2024. Il s'était déjà imposé sur l'E3 Saxo Classic.

Mathieu Van der Poel entre dans l'histoire

Le Néerlandais égale le record de victoires sur le Tour des Flandres. Avec ce troisième succès, il rejoint Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara, Johan Museeuw, Eric Leman, Fiorenzo Magni, Achiel Buysse.

1er : Matthew Van der Poel 2e : Luca Mozzato à 1'02" 3e : Nils Politt à 1'02" 4e : Mikkel Bjerg à 1'02" 5e : Antonio Morgado à 1'02" 6e : Magnus Sheffield à 1'02" 7e : Oliver Naesen à 1'02" 8e : Dylan Teuns à 1'02" 9e : Alberto Bettiol à 1'02" 10e : Toms Skujins à à 1'02".

Michael Matthews est déclassé

Michael Matthews est déclassé, il n'a pas tenu sa ligne durant le sprint. Nils Politt monte sur le podium.

Mathieu Van der Poel remporte son 3e Tour des Flandres

Mathieu Van der Poel remporte le Tour des Flandres pour la 3e fois de sa carrière. Le champion du monde a attaqué à 45 kilomètres de l'arrivée, dans les passages vertigineux du Koppenberg. Derrière lui, la majorité des coureurs ont terminé l'ascension à pied. Au fil des kilomètres, l'écart s'est creusé et personne n'a revu le Néerlandais. Lucas Mozzato prend la deuxième place de la course et termine, pour la première fois de sa carrière, sur le podium d'un Monument. Pour Michael Matthews, c'est un deuxième podium en deux Monuments après sa 2e place sur Milan San-Remo.

Mathieu Van der Poel passe sous la flamme rouge

Mathieu Van der Poel vient de passer sous la flamme rouge.

Mathieu Van der Poel profite

Le champion du monde perd du temps au fil des kilomètres, mais il sait qu'il est le grand vainqueur de cette 108e édition du Tour des Flandres.

Changement de vélo pour Tiesj Benoot

Quel changement de vélo catastrophique pour Tiesj Benoot. Son équipe lui avait donné le vélo de Dylan Van Baarle, mais le champion des Pays-Bas est beaucoup plus grand que le Belge.

Un point sur la situation

Mathieu Van der Poel a 1'19" d'avance sur Alberto Bettiol et Dylan Teuns, et 1'33" d'avance sur Oliver Naesen, Magnus Sheffield et Michael Matthews. Luca Mozzato, Toms Skujins, Tim Wellens, Mikkel Bjerg, Antonio Morgado et Nils Politt ont 1'45" de retard.

4 UAE Team Emirates dans le groupe de contre

Tim Wellens, Mikkel Bjerg, Antonio Morgado et Nils Politt sont dans le groupe de contre.

Crevaison pour Tiesj Benoot

Tiesj Benoot crève au plus mauvais moment. La voiture de son équipe est assez loin, il dit certainement adieu à ses chances de podium.

Edition la plus rapide du Tour des Flandres ?

Pour l'instant, cette édition est la plus rapide de l'histoire du Tour des Flandres. La moyenne depuis le départ est 44,48 km/h alors que la moyenne record est de 44,08 km/h.

Mathieu Van der Poel a 1'36" d'avance sur Alberto Bettiol et Dylan Teuns, et 1'45" d'avance sur Oliver Naesen, Magnus Sheffield et Michael Matthews.

10 kilomètres de l'arrivée

Mathieu Van der Poel est à 10 kilomètres de la ligne d'arrivée à Audenarde.

Attaque de Michael Matthews

Le coureur australien se dresse sur les pédales au sommet du Paterberg. Oliver Naesen saute dans sa roue.

Multiple Diddy Documentaries in the Works Following Federal Raids

Beyoncé's New Country Album Gets Chris Young, Shooter Jennings' Approval

Diddy's Ex, Cassie, Cooperating with Federal Investigators Amid Probe

GloRilla Sidesteps Damian Lillard Question On 'Club Shay Shay'

Rapper Rod Wave Arrested for Possession of Firearm, Attorneys Call BS

Drake shoots travis scott tour prop, revenge for future, metro boomin beef, drake meltdown mode on travis scott ... shoots up astroworld tour prop.

Drake 's got Travis Scott in his sniper scope, and unloaded fake gunfire on a prop representing him ... putting Trav on the impressive list of rappers -- Kendrick Lamar , Future and Metro Boomin -- he's targeting for revenge.

On Sunday, Drake and J. Cole 's "It's All A Blur -- Big as the What?" tour rolled into Penn State University Park ... Drake launched into an angry performance of "Meltdown" ... his most recent collab with Travis from last year's "Utopia" album.

But, he ended the verse screaming at the top of his lungs, and then mimicked gunshots on the giant Travis Scott head -- popularized during the Astroworld era -- which Drake had been using as a tour prop during the performance of the song.

Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.

Travis sided with Future and Metro Boomin before they even released their Kendrick-assisted Drake diss hit -- he was spotted at Rolling Loud encouraging them to play the track for the clueless crowd.

LeBron raps Kendrick Lamar’s verse from “Like That” pic.twitter.com/lEByzsKVys — Omar Raja (@OmarESPN) April 1, 2024 @OmarESPN

Drake better start performing his jams "Fake Love" and "No New Friends" ... it looks like he'll have to ditch his longtime LeBron James friendship, because he's now on the K. Dot bandwagon!!!

• Share on Facebook

related articles

Drake and Lil Wayne Spotted Rapping Lyrics From Teleprompter On 'Blur' Tour

Drake's Dad Comes To Son's Defense As Kendrick, Metro, Rick Ross Pile On

Old news is old news be first.