Introduction
In March, Mongolia was welcomed into the international space community by successfully sending two nanosatellites, Ondosat-Owl-1 and Ondosat-Owl-2, into space. While this was a significant feat for the developing nation, Mongolia hopes to leverage that momentum into a whole new frontier of space activity: a simulation site of Mars.
In 2019, the Mongolian Aerospace Research and Science Association (MARSA) launched the Mars V Project, an initiative to establish this simulation site in the Gobi Desert. Under the leadership of S. Erdenebold, the Mars V Project has presented this idea to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), and the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos. Furthermore, the Mars V Project has begun collaborations with 2 groups under NASA and hopes to work with private companies going forward. After completing a deal that allowed Mongolia to use Starlink, the Project has begun discussing Mars V collaboration with SpaceX magnate Elon Musk. Currently, the Project is being advised by former Mongolian cosmonaut Jügderdemidiin Gurragchaa.
Evidently, Mongolia is planning toward a future of scientific innovation and international collaboration. But does it have the standing and resources to implement them? This short piece hopes to address two questions: 1) what makes Mongolia’s space policy attractive to other space organizations, and 2) what is Mongolia’s vision for its future role in the international space industry?
Jumping on a Trend
Mongolia isn’t the first ‘geopolitical minnow’ to enter the international space race. Island nations such as New Zealand have leased lands at below-market rates and reduced corporate taxes for the construction of launching sites, Lithuania’s Aerospace Science Technology and Innovation Development Program has worked to bolster both research and economic incentives for space tech companies, and Luxembourg has allocated $110 million in funding to space mining startups. In addition, the UAE has invested in its own space policy program, financing Japanese-built hardware for both the Emirates Mars Mission, which sent the Hope Probe to Mars in 2021, and the Emirates Lunar Mission in 2023, which unsuccessfully saw the Rashid Rover crash into the moon.
Yet it is unusual for Mongolia to enter the space race for a few reasons. First, Mongolia has a per capita GDP of roughly $6,000 (IMF) – a significantly smaller fraction than other nations’. Second, Mongolia doesn’t have the talent pool to run the Mars V facilities and projects; most Mongolians graduating from universities earn degrees in business management and law, not subjects such as physics or engineering. Third, with concerns about national debt and a 2% GDP budget deficit, Mongolia doesn’t have the financial resources to launch the project at full scale. Fourth, Mongolia’s geographic location may leave it vulnerable to Chinese and Russian leverage.
So, why would major space organizations wish to endorse Mongolia?
Mongolia’s Marketability
There are five components that make Mongolia marketable as a partner in Mars exploration: 1) the Gobi’s unique environment and climate, 2) its geopolitical neutrality, 3) a clear focus on enhancing foreign investment, 4) a commitment to renewable energy, and 5) a nomadic culture.
Being one of the largest, coldest deserts, unused and untouched, the Mongolian Gobi would theoretically have both the environmental conditions and available space to construct a major project for simulating life on Mars. Its temperature conditions – a night-day temperature range of -42 ℃ to 45 ℃ — are similar to the 130-degree variation on Mars. Similarly, rather low precipitation, high wind speeds, and significant Ferum O2 content in its soil also make the Gobi akin to Mars in similar climate and soil composition. Although other deserts, such as Chile’s Atacama, have comparable conditions, the Gobi’s vast and uninhabited nature makes it a highly suitable space for both Mars research and the development of scientific facilities in the region.
Beyond having suitable physical landscapes, Mongolia also has a stable geopolitical landscape, making it a suitable partner for collaborative international projects. Mongolia’s policy of absolute neutrality has delivered a strong foundation for successful international collaboration — hosting international dialogues and conferences, entering and creating various multilateral organizations, hosting both South and North Korean embassies, and engaging in joint military training exercises with countries across the geopolitical gambit like China, India, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the US. Moreover, Mongolia’s nuclear-weapon-free status and peacekeeping missions have earned it the goodwill of other nations and created a trust to collaborate in joint projects. Its policy of non-aggression also means that Mongolia has no hot adversary, ensuring that it could de-escalate tension between collaborating nations and prevent any from being barred or left behind. In short, Mongolia’s reputation as a successful center for multilateral cooperation would make an international Mars project in the Gobi attractive to participating nations.
Mongolia’s general openness to foreign investment and plans to create an economic free zone in the Gobi Region could also attract space agencies to invest in the project. Mongolia’s current Constitution and Foreign Investment Law ensure that its government “imposes no statutory or regulatory limits on foreign ownership and control of investments,” guaranteeing that a foreign investor has the same rights as a Mongolian investor. As regulated by the WTO, Mongolia’s Free Zone Law would allow agencies and tech startups to operate tax-free, including sales tax and real estate tax, duties, and VAT. Furthermore, land lease terms (formerly limited to five years with a one-year extension) would not apply in the Free Zone. In May of 2024, Mongolia revised the Law on Science and Technology to promote the development of science programs and research, and the Mars V Project has been officially included in Mongolia’s Vision 2050. The Mongolian government thus seems unanimously invested in creating legislation that encourages space agencies to participate.
Additionally, the country’s investment in improving renewable energy availability in the Mongolian Gobi could be a further reason for foreign space agencies to collaborate. Large-scale wind and solar farms built throughout the Gobi with South Korean and Japanese partners could theoretically provide all energy required to operate the Mars V facilities. This would be an important appeal to countries looking into long-term plans for carbon neutrality and energy security.
Beyond practical factors like location, stable project environment, and clean energy, Mongolians could use elements of their nomadic culture to contribute to space technology and innovation. As the envisioned version of life on Mars has clear similarities to a nomadic lifestyle, Mongolia has a head start in accommodating the unique living conditions required. Mars V developers have already created a concept of a reusable and portable Martian dome in the form of a Mongolian Ger. The engineering team has also laid out blueprints for a “Mars V Carrier,” adjusting tire designs and the lightweight body to match the environmental conditions of the rugged Gobi. These ideas could offer new perspectives on space innovation and would be considered a valuable contribution to any collaborating space agency, and one unique to Mongolia.
The Mars V Plan
Mars V is a government-funded project to simulate conditions on Mars within Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. The project aims to become a hub for scientific research on planetary exploration, a major contributor towards a settlement on Mars, and a central initiative for peaceful international cooperation on space policy. The project envisions three interconnected institutions to fulfill those goals: 1) an international training academy for Mars exploration; 2) an international zone for Mars research; and 3) a space-themed tourist center.
To establish an academy for future Mars explorers, the project includes training programs focused on adapting to the environment, terrain navigation, and eventual settlement. These programs, led by foreign experts from major space agencies, would train the best astronauts from around the world and Mongolians responsible for day-to-day operations. The program would also support the growing space tourism industry, assuming space tourism eventually reaches Mars.
In addition to offering opportunities to aspiring astronauts, The Mars V Project also hopes to foster a cooperative network of researchers. The vision to set up an international zone for Mars-focused scientific and economic cooperation would include creating research opportunities and establishing an international think tank to share discoveries. Participating national space agencies would be provided both the land and the facilities to conduct experiments, most specifically regarding soil composition and potential fertilizers. Contracts can also be negotiated with tech startups to test their surface vehicles, space suits, agricultural products, and robots in the Gobi. To encourage a sense of entrepreneurship, the Mars V Project includes a fast-track patent service and a platform for commercializing test results, research, and products for Mars exploration. On an international geopolitical level, creating an international think tank would stand as a gesture of goodwill supporting international cooperation in Mars research. By creating a grand database, the think tank would be a center of innovation for global leaders in Mars research.
Beyond focusing on space education and training, the Mars V Project also aspires to commercialize this space. With eco-tourism already an important segment of the Mongolian economy, the plan envisions creating a hospitality center, ‘Satellite City,’ to accommodate space tourists. The center would offer an opportunity for tourists to live in a space-themed capsule and experience Mars-like terrain as a makeshift astronaut. The City would simulate life on Mars and offer Mongolia an important pivot to higher-value tourism, populated with space enthusiasts and tourists alike.
How Would Mongolia Benefit?
The Mars V Project could be one of many pathways Mongolia uses to diversify its economy. Profits derived from land leasing, patent fees, and service charges could become new sources of income for the government, which Mongolia could either reinvest in the project or distribute to its citizens through other programs. Building and operating facilities such as the training center, the laboratory, and the Satellite City ‘hotel’ could also create more highly skilled jobs to address the high youth unemployment rate Mongolians face today. This would be a crucial diversification to parallel the mining industry, which has seen success in both wealth creation and cultivating local talent in mining operations and business management.
By attracting global space experts to the country, Mongolia will inspire a new generation of Mongolians to become planetary scientists or enter other STEM-related fields. As legislated by the WTO, agencies that operate in economic free zones can’t have more than 10% foreign workforce, therefore, there will be a growing demand from participating space agencies for Mongolian labor. In the short term, a Mongolian workforce within the project will be trained to learn the skills needed to operate complex facility machinery. As a result, Mongolian institutions would be established to educate this specialized labor force to Mars V and support other high-tech development. In the long term, Mongolia could export its talent to other national space agencies across the globe and advise on building and operating simulation facilities in other countries. In short, Mongolia will be able to cultivate high-tech talent similar to how it developed a specialized workforce for the mining industry, creating both a skilled worker base for future entrepreneurial innovation and an experienced corps of experts valuable to any space agency worldwide.
On an international geopolitical level, Mongolia has always dreamed of being an indispensable part of the global supply chain. The adoption of the space program at full speed could potentially integrate Mongolia into any nation’s space exploration program. By involving its space agencies in the Mars V Project, global players such as the US, Japan, India, and the European Union would have a vested interest in Mongolia’s geopolitical safety and serve as important moderators and insurance mechanisms for Mongolia in case of Russian and Chinese intervention. Similarly, the exchange of peoples and ideas would not only bring an awareness of Mongolia’s political situation to academic communities worldwide but would also help young Mongolians connect in a new way to the outside world, through space innovation.
Lots of Work to Do
The Mars V Project is still a long way from implementation. For starters, the team hasn’t fully concluded its study on the Gobi’s soil composition, which could affect its marketability to major space agencies. In addition, the team has not fully calculated the cost to build (including importing high-level technology) and operate the facility (both in terms of money and energy), how long it is projected to build the facilities, or the pricing model for land use and development charges to space organizations, tourists, or tech startups.
Ecology, archaeological preservation, and mining may pose additional concerns. With recent discoveries of rare Saurolophus dinosaur bones and projected discoveries of critical mineral deposits in the Gobi, the Mars V Project would most likely have to collaborate with archeologists and mining entrepreneurs for land rights and allocation. However, these challenges should be resolvable, as the vast area of the Gobi would be more than sufficient to provide each the land they require.
Funding sources and rights to ownership for Mars V could turn into a political concern. Based on the current proposal that infrastructure and facility construction would be funded by foreign space agencies, the project could quickly turn into a bidding war for influence. Significant investors would also demand priority access to the facilities creating leverage that might not be in Mongolia’s long-term interest. The battle for access could also create international political tensions, putting Mongolia in an even more difficult geopolitical position. To address those concerns, a project like Mars V should seek funding from international finance organizations such as the IMF or the World Bank instead, to ensure that no sources of funding come with political baggage or vested political interests.
Even if Mongolia could successfully launch the international think tank they envision as part of the Mars V Project, it will be difficult for Mongolia to benefit from the intellectual property created through that collaboration. National space agencies or tech startups will refuse to share the value of their intellectual property (IP) for the sake of their own national security or economic benefit. Likewise, Mongolia would be reluctant to share rights to any of its homegrown IPs. Therefore, any information shared within the international think tank would also be found in the public domain. In choosing between having a data center that shares information or a secret lab that protects innovation, Mars V can’t have both ways.
Conclusion
Mars V has the potential to be an interesting high-tech addition to Mongolia’s economic and geopolitical evolution, but its leaders must be careful to establish a legal framework, economic incentives, and support from the Mongolian people. Perhaps most importantly, they will have to navigate complex international politics, a skill set in which Mongolia has proven to be adept.
On a macro-level, the Mars V Project reflects Mongolia’s Third Neighbor Policy, an initiative for Mongolia to reach out to nations beyond their landlocked neighbors, China and Russia, to immunize themselves from Russian and Chinese influence and leverage. Typically, Mongolia adheres to this initiative by creating and leading various multilateral organizations, winning support through their engagement in international organizations, and trading this goodwill for beneficial diplomatic relations with adversarial nations. Similarly, Mongolia’s mission to Mars is not solely for space exploration, but rather to create a center for international cooperation and innovation. The project reflects Mongolia’s greater geopolitical ambition, to assert its value as an important interlocutor for international dialogue and collaboration. By presenting itself as a uniquely positioned and non-threatening partner in space exploration, Mongolia can strengthen its geopolitical ‘insurance policy’ through cooperation, goodwill, and vested interests.
Image sourced from AMR Photography | CC License, no changes made