Entertainment
Brand Out of this world excitement
The emphasis for marketing Project Olympus will be on excitement and the experience of visiting another world. The slogan and logo are red to highlight the association with Mars. Red is an auspicious colour for Chinese, who are the largest market segment of high rollers. http://www.projectolympus.com URL has been reserved for this project.
Transport
A Copernicus Dome G Percival Lowell Observatory
B Rocket Launch Facility H Einstein Planetarium
C Newton Dome I Solar Furnace
D Mars Rover egress portal J Deep Space Antennae
E Transport tubes K Space Pioneer Centre
F Underground parking
Project Olympus will have several forms of efficient transport. The main entrance features a multi-purpose portal. Vehicles enter a tunnel to an underground parking facility, to preserve the theme above ground and provide a security checkpoint. There are five floors of parking under each of the two domes. Pedestrian visitors travel to the Project Olympus facility in a vehicle using magnetic levitation and propulsion, the Martian Maglev.
A ground transport tube with a Maglev transport, a travelator and pedestrian links the Copernicus and Newton Domes and provides a safety alternative route in the event of a major problem.
The “rocket” is made of safe, frangible plastic containing a helium vessel and is a tethered balloon (kytoon). During the launch, pyrotechnics, propane burners, smoke generators and loudspeakers enhance the illusion of a rocket launch. A steam catapult launches the kytoon with a hidden rail to enhance launch speed on a safe trajectory and a winch provides the retrieval capacity to reduce costs.
Attractions
Project Olympus will stand out because of its theme and unique attractions. The main attractions will be unaffected by weather conditions and are planned to have a total simultaneous capacity of up to 500 people. Key strategies to enhance attraction experience are the variations so the attraction experience will be different each time, interactivity, and efficiency to reduce waiting time.
1. Space Pioneers Centre Entrance Portal (Floor 2)
Holographs and computer-generated imagery will recreate interactive realistic images. Scientists such as Copernicus would be honoured next to rocketry pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, space traveller Yuri Gagarin and great thinkers such as Leonardo da Vinci.
2. Space Exploration Centre Entrance Portal (Floor 2)
The Space Exploration Centre is the main science exhibit. It will highlight the work of the space industry with an emphasis on interactive exhibits. A joint NASA attraction would be beneficial for the Project, in terms of technical expertise and live telecast facilities.
3. Zero-G Launch Facility (Floor 1)
The Zero G ride uses
the same principle used to artificially create weightlessness
(zero
gravity) with an aircraft flying a parabolic flight path. This creates
the same feeling that roller coaster riders experience at the top of a
rise.
The Zero G ride uses two special lifts with six horizontal, individual coaches with safety tethers. Each lift is able to support a smooth, rapid acceleration to a height of 20 floors within the Launch Gantry (150 m) to create the illusion of a rocket launch. At this point the Zero G lift decelerates rapidly, causing riders to move upwards and creating an illusion of weightlessness as the ride descends again at the same pace as the passengers’ fall before being gradually arrested.
4. Escape Chute Launch Facility (Floor 10)
The Escape Chute contains two spectacular rides. The first is a slide that descends from the Launch Gantry some 50 metres. The tube consists of a seamless transparent polycarbonate tube. A second escape chute is a free fall ride within the Launch Gantry itself. This uses a carriage for six people, free falling until arrested by magnetic repulsion. The carriage can be rotated 90o from the normal position. Riders can choose a lying, sitting or down facing position.
5. Martian Miner Copernicus Dome (Floor 1)
Martian
Miner is an advanced roller coaster. Carriages travel
between rails above and below providing a smooth ride and forces are reduced by hidden shock absorbers.
The Martian Miner ride is entirely underground, except for the start and finish when the ride is within a Perspex tunnel on the surface.
The first course is designed with loops and corkscrews to give an exhilarating ride, around a more sedate ride on the second track that passes through jewelled caverns.
The third track would be a thrill ride, using jets of air and holographic imagery to introduce scary elements such as extra-terrestrials. The senses of sight, hearing, touch and smell would all be stimulated on the Martian Miner rides, some of which occurs in darkness.
6. Mars Rover Copernicus Dome (Floor 1)
The Mars Rovers are large multi-wheeled vehicles running over a simulated Martian landscape. The rovers seat a dozen people with automated interactive driving positions within safe limits.
7. Ultimate Flight Newton Dome (Floor 1)
The Ultimate Flight is just that, except visitors never leave the ground. Unlike normal three-axis aviation simulators, they are capable of a large vertical movement to convey an impression of space launch.
After an automated launch sequence, riders in one of the two pilot positions in the front row are able to manoeuvre the flight in an interactive manner. Journeys around Mars over the Valles Marineris, polar caps, to Martian moons Phobus and Deimos, and around Olympus Mons itself will be possible. There would be limitations in the software to ensure normal flights are smooth and without problems. An automated landing sequence takes over when the ride is complete. Some of the rides may be programmed to run a completely automatic tour while others can be more exciting to suit visitor choice.
8. Marswalk Newton Dome (Floor 1)
The first floor of the Newton Dome is the site of the Marswalk. This attraction allows people to try on a fake spacesuit and walk in a designated area over the simulated Martian landscape clear of vehicles close to the rear of the Project.
Instructions to walkers are passed by recorded radio messages. Transparent bungy cables suspended from overhead gantries could be used to simulate the gravity of Mars.
9. Percival Lowell Observatory
Observatory Dome (Floor 1)
In the Observatory itself the main telescope is a mock up that moves. Visitors to the observatory use a real telescope facility in one of 24 booths around the periphery of the Observatory. Each booth gives access to images from remote 300 mm (12 inch) telescopes are connected by fibre-optic cable to each booth.
The telescopes could be sited on a mountain away from the lights of Las Vegas. People could choose what sights they would like to view, with a touch screen facility commanding the telescopes to be remotely steered to visible wonders across the skies.
10. Einstein Planetarium Planetarium Dome (Floor 1)
Sited in a subsidiary dome would be a world-leading attraction befitting one of humanity's most brilliant minds. Visitors will be seated in a circular arrangement under the dome in reclining seats.
The Planetarium uses
multiple lasers on an overhead dome to display three-dimensional imagery
of the cosmos. The dome would consist of a clear Perspex hemisphere with
a three dimensional spatial array of Cartesian coordinates. Intersecting
laser beams illuminate the voxels with simultaneous light of different
frequencies to create different colours. The black background has a
conventional projection using hidden projectors, thus completing the
three dimensional perception.
11. Mars Ark
Mars Ark is a spectacular 21st century zoological park. The Ark is a microcosm of various flora and fauna, simulating the survival of species on a place other than their origin in case of a cataclysmic event. The Ark provides sustenance (food supply) and recreation for Project Olympic's inhabitants.
The capital outlay of this second stage of Project Olympus could be reduced through industry or government sponsorship. The Ark would be a big draw card for families and scientists. The four interlinked domes can be constructed by using a galvanised steel frame of hexagons, with a translucent ethylene tetraflurosethylene covering, which is lighter and more durable than glass.
Study of this nature testing suitable environments would be necessary for a real interplanetary base. Nations represented within the Ark would benefit from the tourist exposure, so they may assist in developing their national displays.