Tech company to build science ghost town in NM

Sep 06, 2011 By JERI CLAUSING , Associated Press

New Mexico, home to several of the nation's premier scientific, nuclear and military institutions, is planning to embark on a science project of unprecedented scale - a petri dish the size of a large U.S. city.

A Washington-based technology company announced plans Tuesday to build a 20-square-mile model metropolis that would be used to test everything from renewable energy innovations to intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks.

The replica city would be capable of supporting a population of 350,000, but would be the state's newest ghost town.

Pegasus Global CEO Bob Brumely says the $200 million project will be a first of its kind in the U.S. and could create a of sorts in New Mexico.

Explore further: Inventor creates Card Beams with 3D printer

4.1 /5 (7 votes)

©2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

add to favorites email to friend print save as pdf

Related Stories

Kansas town traffic control goes wireless

Aug 29, 2005

The Kansas City suburb of Lenexa, Kan., has selected Alvarion Limited to deploy a wireless telephone and broadband network linking city traffic operations.

Russia plans bikes and windmills in its Silicon Valley

May 16, 2011

Architects on Monday presented ambitious plans for Russia's version of Silicon Valley, which they say will be the country's most ecologically friendly town, with cycle tracks, solar panels and windmills.

Silicon Valley cuts the Internet cord

Sep 07, 2006

Some 2.4 million residents of California's Silicon Valley will have free broadband wireless Internet access when a new network goes on line. The system will be put together by Silicon Valley Metro Connect, a collaboration ...

Mexico City air pollution is studied

Mar 03, 2006

Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., and other institutions are in Mexico City this month for a pollution study.

Recommended for you

Inventor creates Card Beams with 3D printer

11 hours ago

What are card beams, you may ask? They are the building toy that allows you to build gravity-defying houses of cards with the help of friction, gravity, and two types of beams - the cap and the connector.

With high-tech guns, users could disable remotely

May 21, 2013

A high-tech startup is wading into the gun control debate with a cellphone controller that would allow gun owners to know when their weapon is being moved—and disable it remotely.

Game system castAR debuts at Maker Faire

May 21, 2013

(Phys.org) —Two tech talents, formerly employees at video game publisher Valve, have been working on their own vision in the form of game-ready glasses. Their company, Technical Illusions, will seek to ...

China police billions spell profit opportunity

May 19, 2013

Mannequins in riot gear, armoured cars and drones line a police equipment and "anti-terrorism technology" trade fair in Beijing as vendors seek to profit from China's huge internal security budget.

User comments : 18

Adjust slider to filter visible comments by rank

Display comments: newest first

Jaeherys
3.7 / 5 (3) Sep 06, 2011
$200 million for a city able to support 350 000 people? Really!?
Eikka
3 / 5 (2) Sep 06, 2011
$200 million for a city able to support 350 000 people? Really!?


Well, not really, since they won't actually live there, so you don't have to care about stuff like furniture for the homes, or painting the walls etc. Just put up skeleton houses that can be used to test various stuff.

Doesn't cost much to erect a timber frame and cover it up with plywood and plastic weatherproofing.
DiverseByDesign
5 / 5 (1) Sep 06, 2011
Doesn't figure to be much of a "ghost town" considering people will have to be there to gather results. They would still need to install various sensors of every imaginable type wouldn't they?
Eikka
1 / 5 (1) Sep 06, 2011
Doesn't figure to be much of a "ghost town" considering people will have to be there to gather results. They would still need to install various sensors of every imaginable type wouldn't they?


The cost of the actual experiments probably doesn't count into the cost of building the place, and you only need a couple people - the rest can be automated.
GreyLensman
3.5 / 5 (4) Sep 06, 2011
Hmmm - call it "Eureka"?
_nigmatic10
1 / 5 (1) Sep 06, 2011
They're forgetting the cost needed to keep squatters out. I'm sure an entire city will get a few. This means security. this means they'll need to build those security features needed. Walls? ditches? locks? cameras? Those costs in that 200mil?

Although, if they put "live munitions testing site" on it... that could keep costs down. (snicker)
Isaacsname
5 / 5 (3) Sep 06, 2011
What a nice lengthy and informative article..
DiverseByDesign
5 / 5 (1) Sep 06, 2011
What a nice lengthy and informative article..


I know.. this really seems to be an interesting topic to follow. I would be really interested to see how this all turns out.
HypnoticBob
3 / 5 (2) Sep 07, 2011
Let's assume the average family contains four people per 'household'. 350,000 divided by 4 is equal to 87,500. That's 87,500 households. 200,000,000 divided by 87,500 gives us a cost of approximately 2,285 dollars per household. Clearly this leaves no room for electricity, streets, businesses, et cetera. This also does not take into account the cost of the land (20 sq. mi.). I am dubious of either the amount of currency required for this project or of the project's stipulations. Somebody appears to be making a "boo boo" somewhere. Again, this city is meant to "support" 350,000 people. I suppose, due to the lack of information in this article, we need to have some things properly defined. But, the essence of the article is not lost on me. It sounds like a very interesting idea.
antialias_physorg
3 / 5 (2) Sep 07, 2011
ost of approximately 2,285 dollars per household. Clearly this leaves no room for electricity, streets, businesses, et cetera.

Since all the households will be merely plywood boxes with no gas/water/electricity (for next to no cost) all the money will probably go to the infrastructure.

All the things they are trying to test there is not for the individual household (traffic flow, wireless communications infrastructure, transport, ... )
Eikka
5 / 5 (1) Sep 07, 2011
200,000,000 divided by 87,500 gives us a cost of approximately 2,285 dollars per household.


That's the reason why I think most of the houses will be simply cardboard dummies for design and architecture, or a simple drop in shed that houses the experiments and allows companies to experiment in different methods of bringing power, water, commuting etc. to that location.

The amount of work required to build 87,500 homes would surpass the cost of $200 million.
COCO
not rated yet Sep 07, 2011
why not just wait out and take advantage of the depression - must be some towns in FLA that will soon be as good as abandoned.
KillerKopy
not rated yet Sep 07, 2011
They should spend more than 200mil ,build in a nice area, build the houses and roads up to code and sell the houses after the experiments are done.
Nik_2213
not rated yet Sep 07, 2011
Hmm: Which author(s) wrote about having 'Emergency cities' ??
{Go, go, Google !!}
James Blish and Norman L. Knight, 'A Torrent of Faces'.
NotAsleep
not rated yet Sep 07, 2011
Why is everyone assuming they're going to build houses of ANY type? This is a simulation and the article is unusually vague in how they plan on running the simulation. The houses could just as easily be modeled using computer software.

It's hard to even speculate on what they're intending to do with the information given
NotAsleep
not rated yet Sep 09, 2011
Way more info here:

http://www.bizjou...ive.html

Javinator
5 / 5 (2) Sep 09, 2011
I bet that would make for a sweeeet paintball course.
Vendicar_Decarian
not rated yet Sep 11, 2011
Why build a ghost town when it would be more efficient to just use Detroit?

More news stories

Solar Kettle allows for boiling water off the grid

(Phys.org) —A company called Contemporary Energy has unveiled a new device it calls the Solar Kettle. It looks very much like a normal coffee thermos, but has flaps on one side that open to allow for collecting ...

Google Drive sports new view and scan enhancements

(Phys.org) —Google Drive has a new look and functions. The makeover in Google Drive features scanning and interface enhancements that put the user into "card" mode. The enhancements make it easy for the ...

Controlling mood through the motions of mitochondria

(Medical Xpress)—Regulating the distribution of power in neurons is done by a system that makes the national electric grid look simple by comparison. Each neuron has several thousand mitochondria confined ...

A hidden population of exotic neutron stars

(Phys.org) —Magnetars – the dense remains of dead stars that erupt sporadically with bursts of high-energy radiation - are some of the most extreme objects known in the Universe. A major campaign using ...

A quantum simulator for magnetic materials

Physicists understand perfectly well why a fridge magnet sticks to certain metallic surfaces. But there are more exotic forms of magnetism whose properties remain unclear, despite decades of intense research. ...