A Mars encounter could soon become a reality, after plans were revealed to build a US$80m (£47.7m, €57.9m) Mars-themed attraction in Brevard County, Florida.

4Frontiers – the company behind the plans – has launched an initial private offering to finance the first phase of Interspace Florida, an interactive space-themed destination focused on the red planet.

The first phase of development will see construction of one-third of the site, leaving room for future planned expansions, which could include technology businesses and educational facilities.

Interspace will offer guests a hands-on experience, training with high-tech tools of the space frontier and exploring what has been touted as the largest indoor Mars simulation in the world.

The attraction will offer technical accuracy by utilising a 4Frontiers three-year unpublished study by 70 engineers, researchers, and scientists, that addressed the first two generations of what a real-life Mars settlement would be like. Interspace has incorporated study results, including the characteristics and technologies of an expanding 2,000 resident settlement on Mars into the attraction.

The centre will have three areas – a contact terminal, training centre and Expo Mars. Guests will have the option of entering either as explorers or as settlers, with settlers staying multiple days in the ‘colony’s’ rooms playing the role of real Mars visitors, while explorers visit the simulated red planet.

Guests can experience centrifuge training, operate aerial and ground robots, test out the latest in spacesuit technology and fire a real rocket. For the high-end consumer, the attraction will also offer tickets for real spaceflight and space training experiences.

The 75 acre master-planned and zoned spaceport territory site would sit eight miles from the Kennedy Space Center at the Titusville Cocoa Airport and is planned to open in 2016.