(Yicai Global) May 30 -- China News Agency reporters yesterday went on an inspection tour of China's 'Mars 1 Base' astronaut training site in Jinchang in the mid-section of the Hexi Corridor in China's northwestern Gansu province, whose landscape resembles Mars and so has drawn the notice of aerospace fans and tourists from home and abroad.

The Hexi Corridor's topography is high in the south and low in the north and staggered between the Gobi Desert and mountains. The climate is arid, with wind all year round, and the day-night and seasonal temperature variations are high, and so it offers to the greatest extent the feeling of an astronaut surviving in space.

The overall planned area of this base is 67 square kilometers, with its core constructed area of 5 square km including a master control compartment, air-lock compartment and crew compartment to realistically simulate the conditions of an astronaut training and surviving beyond the Earth.

The image shows an astronaut at the Mars Base observing a monitor screen in the master control compartment.

An astronaut checks on wheat cultivated in the bio-chamber.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Ben Armour