Las Vegas is world famous for over-the-top entertainment that borders on the fantastic, but one newly proposed development on the Strip is literally out of this world. Canada-based Moon World Resorts is proposing a $ 5 billion five-star hotel and casino whose main attraction will be an “active lunar colony” that will “closely mimick” lunar colonies with serious active planning by NASA and others .
With postmodernism coming first in Las Vegas, Moon World Resorts intends to build a giant two-foot-high moon-like sphere that, when completed, would become the second tallest building in the city behind the Strat observation tower. Although the property is 75,000 times smaller than the actual moon, it has a host of amenities inside. Current plans include 4,000 hotel rooms, a casino, a planetarium, a 2,500-seat theater, a 10,000-seat arena, a spaceship-themed nightclub and a 5.5 million square foot “crater café”. “People want something unique, something different, something ‘wow’. Space flights cost $ 200,000 to $ 250,000 – so the masses just can’t attend, ”Michael Henderson, co-founder of Moon World Resorts, told the New York Post. “With Moon you can walk on an authentic lunar surface for $ 500 and explore a lunar colony in a spectacular way.”
In the “active lunar colony” that occupies the topmost parts of the sphere, guests can pay a cool $ 500 to explore artificial lunar terrain in a “moon buggy” for 90 minutes. Access to the colony is an adventure of its own – guests will ride a “moon shuttle”, which is reminiscent of a roller coaster that circled the hotel suites on the ascent from the outside. Developers, investors, and the state government are currently competing for licenses for the property, which is slated to open outposts in the Middle East, China, and Spain by 2027.
