Rio Tinto Park is a top industrial tourism destination in Spain. The park is creatively designed for educational tourism, making it an ideal place for space enthusiasts with its “Mars on Earth” experience. Visitors can explore landscapes featuring red rocks and rivers reminiscent of Mars. Children can immerse themselves in a Mars research station or even be guided by astronauts on tours of training facilities.
Rio Tinto Park is a practical training ground for space agencies. (Source: Euronews).
Ms. Marina Santamaria, a local teacher, shared: “There is a similarity in minerals and landscapes with the Red Planet, making it ideal for learning. You can see the learning process happening as students compare reality with what they are doing in class.”
In addition to attracting tourists, Rio Tinto Park also serves as a practical training ground for space agencies. Experts from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) frequently visit Rio Tinto to study its acidic river and soil; they even conduct equipment tests and preparations before embarking on missions to Mars. Researchers are also interested in Rio Tinto due to the discovery of a unique type of bacteria that could answer questions about oxygen production in space.
Mr. Aquilino Delgado Dominguez, the museum director in the Rio Tinto area, stated: “The ecosystem in Rio Tinto is very special; it has extremophile bacteria that absorb iron and sulfur and then produce oxygen, unlike other animals on Earth that absorb oxygen. If there are bacteria on Mars and minerals to ‘feed’ them, we could have an oxygen production facility, and people could breathe. That is one of the unique aspects that agencies are researching.”
Currently, Rio Tinto Park is part of the Valuetur European project, aimed at promoting historically significant reserves in Spain and Portugal. The total budget for the project exceeds 1.2 million EUR, with the initiative “Mars on Earth” valued at 300,000 EUR. In addition to contributing to scientific research, Rio Tinto Park will encourage local economic development through sustainable tourism projects.
