Trekkie king bringing Star Trek ride to Jordan’s coastal theme park

By Jeff Hughes Published August 8, 2011

The country of Jordan is set to be the focal point for Trekkies all over the globe in the next three years. Jordanian King Abdullah II, along with investors from the U.S. and the Gulf, is going ahead with a $1.5 billion theme park project which will have a nod to the Stark Trek series by Gene Roddenberry.

Dubbed the Red Sea Astrarium project, it will be built in the coastal city of Aqaba and will span 74 hectares with four hotels and 17 entertainment zones which will have dining, theater and shopping. CBS has licensed a Star Trek-themed space flight adventure for the project.

Recommended Videos

This investment will be designed by the Callison architectural film and the entertainment elements will be taken care of by the Anman animated film company Rubicon; the resort will be also be “creatively developed” by Paramount Recreation, according to an article by the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper, The National.

The theme park is planned around the idea of Jordan as a “crossroads of civilizations” and will include the rich history of the area. According to a press release by CBS and Rubicon, the entertainment will be a “multi-sensory 23rd-century experience” culminating in the Star Trek attraction. The Red Sea Astrarium project will be powered through renewable energy and in the center of the area people will be able to learn of the benefits of green technology and eco-friendly practices.

At 1.5 billion it’s a small project compared to bigger theme parks like Disneyland, and will need less than half a million visitors annually to meet profitability. Development will employ 500 skilled workers and is expected to begin next year.

This isn’t the first time King Abdullah II has shown off his Trekkie side. In 1995 he made a small nonspeaking cameo in Stark Trek: Voyager.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.

Topics

Emerging Tech

Anti-surveillance clothing is getting cheaper, but don’t expect an invisibility cloak

Affordable shirts now claim to confuse facial recognition, although their protection depends heavily on the camera and software watching you

Chart, Plot, Adult

Anti-surveillance clothing is starting to look less like an art-school experiment and more like something you could actually wear outside. Shirts designed to confuse facial recognition systems now cost about as much as ordinary streetwear, although buying one won’t make you disappear.

The Guardian reports that designers are using face-like prints, unusual cuts and infrared lights to interfere with computer vision. These techniques target specific weaknesses, so their success depends on what happens to be watching you.

Emerging Tech

This spinning drone hides in plain sight using a visual illusion

This drone doesn't turn invisible. It tricks your brain into thinking it has.

Phantom Twist

For decades, engineers have chased the dream of an invisible drone. The usual approaches have involved transparent materials, camouflage coatings, or complex optical systems that bend light around an object. Researchers at Northwestern University decided to take a completely different route. Instead of hiding the drone itself, they chose to fool the human eye.

The result is Phantom Twist, an experimental drone that spins so rapidly it almost disappears into the background. It's not technically invisible, but to anyone watching, it looks more like a faint blur than a flying machine.

Emerging Tech

This smart knitted fabric can flip switches, count your steps, and even change shape

Grandma's knitting just entered its Iron Man era

Representative Image

For most of us, knitting brings to mind sweaters, scarves, and perhaps an ambitious grandmother determined to make winter more fashionable. Researchers at Harvard University, however, have a far more futuristic vision. They've transformed ordinary knitted fabric into a programmable material capable of changing shape, acting as an electrical switch, sensing movement, and potentially forming the foundation of tomorrow's wearable technology.

The research, published in Advanced Functional Materials by scientists at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), demonstrates how machine-knitted textiles can "snap" between multiple stable shapes without relying on motors or rigid mechanical parts.