In late November 2017, the United Arab Emirates released a virtual reality tour of “the City of Wisdom,” which gives the world a detailed glimpse into how they envision humanity’s first settlement on Mars. In conjunction with this release, the UAE also announced that they intend to establish the first colony on Mars by 2117—in just 100 years.
In addition to releasing the VR video, the UAE plans to send their first probe to Mars by 2021. Here on Earth, they’re also planning to build a simulated Mars colony in the Emirati desert to develop the food, energy and water systems needed to someday support potential life on Mars.
With these efforts, they join the growing ranks of countries and organizations trying to put people on Mars including China, NASA, SpaceX, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Mars One.
The year 2117 is too far away to make any hard and fast predictions, and this VR tour release is most likely just a creative effort to promote the UAE’s programs. Realistically, we won’t see the dawn of human life and commercial development on Mars in our lifetimes. But if the UAE keeps up with their plans, CRE on Mars could be a strong possibility in the next century.
With the help of VR videos like the one the UAE just released, brokers here on Earth could have the opportunity to promote and lead tours of properties on another planet. Of course, the day that could happen is a long way away.
In the meantime, you can utilize VR technology to give more customized, immersive tours of your current listings—from anywhere—with tools like Matterport and Virtual Xperience. If you want to learn more about VR and how it affects the CRE industry today, download our resource.
