Dubai hopes to embark on a bizarre and hugely expensive building project to try to build a giant "moon resort" to bring space travel to Earth.
The city in the United Arab Emirates is known for its grand structures and ambitious building plans such as the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
The moon-shaped mega-resort is estimated to cost around the equivalent of £4.28billion and hopes to draw in a whopping 2.5million guests a year, featuring a nightclub and wellness centre.
The huge size - the circumference of the sphere is planned to 622-metres - means it may well be able to bring in over £1.5billion in just a single year.
Guests will be able to take advantage of the site by boarding the moon shuttle which can whisk people around the property on a track that spirals up the centre of the structure.
Around 23 per cent of the upper disc floor will be taken up by casinos, nine per cent by nightclubs and four per cent by restaurants.
The luxury terrace will have a third of it taken up by a beach club, another third by lagoons and four per cent by grand amphitheatres.
If the project goes ahead, it will stretch up well over 200-metres into the sky to a height of just under the size of One Canada Square in Canary Wharf, the UK's third tallest building and the largest upon its completion in 1991.
The project plans were drawn up by Moon World Resorts, whose co-founders Sandra G. Matthews and Michael R. Henderson said in a statement recorded by Arabian Business that 'Moon Dubai' will "significantly impact every aspect of the UAE’s economy, including tourism".
Also targeted are "transportation, commercial and residential real estate, infrastructure, financial services, aviation and space, energy, MICE, agriculture, technology and of course education".
The founders continued: "[It] will be the largest and most successful modern-day tourism project in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, doubling annual tourism visitations to Dubai based on its global appeal, brand awareness and unique multiple integrated offerings."
Authorities and planners are still looking for the precise location to build the structure, which should take another year of development before a four-year building process.
This means it may not end up in Dubai, but in potential sites like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait or elsewhere in the UAE.
If successful, the moon could become just one of four proposed sites, with the other expected to be in North America, Europe and Asia.
