In The Simpsons episode ‘Marg vs. Monorail’, a salesman convinces Springfield to spend a fortune on an advanced train that no one ever wanted. Springfield, at least, got to inaugurate it. Now an astronaut who orbited the moon in April is proposing a project of 12,000 luxury homes with a lagoon, an elevated walkway and, yes, a monorail.
And while the title puts it in Madrid, the data fixes it, for now, in just one render We’ve already talked about how megaprojects end when the money doesn’t come in and why housing threatens to be the driving force of a new 15-M. The Juan Carlos I Park Auditorium, the Mostols-Navalcarnero train and many other investments are still in line there. The moon thing is a very nice design, we’ll have to see if it works.
Who is it? Jeremy Hansen is 50 years old, a fighter pilot, and in April he traveled as an expert on the Artemis II mission, making him the first non-American to reach the moon. In September he left the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut corps after 17 years and the Air Force Reserve after 32 years.
What matters to us is that a few weeks ago, Prime Minister Mark Carney appointed him as an adviser on space affairs. He combines that position with that of advisor, advisory board member and ambassador (space strategist, they say) to Moon World Resorts, which he supports “in a personal capacity.” Yes, charge for it.
Your introduction. Hansen helps develop lunar simulations. He admits he still doesn’t know how it will work, but he’s confident solutions will emerge “by bringing experts together.” As for actual tourism on the moon, he doesn’t expect to see it anytime soon: There will be opportunities for private astronauts, he says, but not travel, because of the risks of living on a ship.
What is the moon? Moon World Resorts is a Toronto company that operates as a design studio and intellectual property licensor. It doesn’t build anything, but it wants to license 10 projects around the world, each with the capital to pay for an entire project to a single client (construction firm or sovereign wealth fund).
Its president, Sandra Matthews, compared it to JK Rowling’s move to Universal, though she emphasized that Moon is “not a theme park.” The centerpiece is a 312-metre-high sphere housing a replica of the lunar surface and a spectacular colony. A 90-minute ride in a spacesuit will cost about $500. The annual audience depends on who you ask: 2.5 million according to the founders of Gulf News, 10 million according to Mathews to Elpais. A 500-acre “smart city” with a 4,000-room hotel and a park, offices, branded luxury residences and the aforementioned monorail will expand around it.
12,000 houses. The 24 towers add up to 12,000 luxury homes on paper, 23 circular commercial buildings and a panoramic promenade. In February, founders were talking about 10,000. The plan relies on private capital and the sale of the residence itself. That is, houses will pay for the attraction they have in front of their windows.
Matthews assures he has raised “millions” of dollars, without specifying how many, and is looking for more to close the design within eight months. After that came the license and about five years of work. Its website has more than 50 companies from 12 countries as partners, from architecture studios to gyms. The list does not say what the signatures are.
Madrid scale. Madrid already has a much larger development than any Luna: Valdecaros, 51,656 houses, 55% protected and a capacity of about 150,000 inhabitants. It occupies about 20 million square meters, about 10 times the requested land area of the Moon. In its first phase, 13,371 homes, almost as promised by Chand, got the green light in October, and work will begin as soon as early 2027.
without soil But the main difference is in land, reparcelling and calendar. Valcecarros’ total investment is around 7.5 billion euros. Moon is worth an estimated $5 billion. But Moon has no land: its promoters are looking for locations near major airports. Try to calculate your pre-project program costs. Henderson, the co-founder, has already explained that we need a government willing to release land and “expedite permits.” It admitted in February that it still had no development partners and that many local developers were more interested in quick-turnover housing than long-term tourism assets.
Mathews now admits that the movements in Spain were only exploratory and there were no meetings with central or regional governments. In addition to Madrid, they studied Seville, Valencia and Barcelona. Yes, there is a team: the company chose Smith + Andersen Engineering for the project system. Madrid currently has an appointment-only presentation to licensees in the spring and a sales office for investors with a model and virtual tour.
old acquaintance The reality is that Moon has been on the tour for more than 20 years, although Spain has only been among the candidates since this February. It was born in 2000, already a design and the same price as the current one. He then went to Las Vegas (2002), Bahamas (2004), Coachella Valley (2016), Dubai (2022) and a few days ago Abu Dhabi. Madrid now. No one has found an investor. It was announced in Las Vegas in 2022, with an opening in 2027, and was expected to lock in its first licensee before the end of that year.
However, in February 2026, the founders themselves said that rumors of an opening in Dubai in 2027 made them laugh. Their realistic calendar puts the first moon around 2032. The founders boast that the project has gone viral three times and admit that spreading the word isn’t always accurate: “Only visionaries are accepted at this point,” Hansen concludes.
A question to close: Is there a shortage of luxury homes in Madrid? The announcement of 12,000 luxury homes is worth noting, at the very least, in a week when police evacuated Seoul’s encampment due to protests over legal housing.
Picture | Moon World Resorts Inc.
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