Pasco men bringing the Red Planet to the Sunshine State

Joseph Palaia, left, and Mark Homnick look over their plans for Interspace.

PASCO COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- A pair of Pasco County men are designing the largest Mars simulation in the world.

Joseph Palaia and Mark Homnick envision Interspace as a hands-on trip to Mars, complete with hotels, shopping and even space for a college campus, all located on a 75-acre strip of land along State Road 407 in Titusville. 

"We want to be able to show a real Mars settlement might look cause that's kinda is the real goal," Palaia said. "All these people are saying, 'Let's go to the moon, Mars.' We wanna show the vision of the future."

Most importantly, Interspace will give the visitor a real-space experience, complete with robots and all of the equipment one would find in an early space frontier.

"We're going to create the most immersive hands-on experience anywhere," Homnick said. "Also, we're going to build the biggest simulated Mars environment in the world."

The plans for the Mars simulation are so realistic that even NASA officials have already expressed interest in conducting tests with their own equipment at the facility.

The men said Interspace will also bring jobs and tourism to the area.

This artist's rendering shows a piece of what the men envision for Interspace.

Homnick said he has dreamed of bringing Interspace to Florida for many years.

"The dream is here, it's possible, we can go there," he said. "It doesn't take a miracle. It doesn't take breakthroughs in science. We have all the things we need now to go out into space and live in space."

Groundbreaking is scheduled for later this year. By August 2012, the men expect construction on Interspace will be complete.