Tourism is a great source of income for every developed country. While we know all about the many tourist traps that ended up being built, most people haven’t heard of these crazy proposals.

10Michael Jackson’s Laser Robot

In the mid-2000s, Michael Jackson was planning on a huge comeback by securing a residency in Las Vegas. Jackson and his crew developed a variety of ideas for arenas, costumes, and shows but needed a huge advertising statement. Many ideas hit the drawing board before Jackson settled on his favorite: a 15-meter (50 ft) walking robot that would circle Las Vegas shooting laser beams.

Robot Michael Jackson was going to be fully mobile. It would stalk the desert around Las Vegas, focusing on being under the flight paths for airlines flying into McCarran Airport. (Nobody knows for sure if the robot would just walk or do Michael Jackson’s trademark moonwalk.) To complete the idea, robo-Jackson was going to have laser beams shooting from its eyes that could be seen from all parts of Las Vegas. It is unknown whether those would have been just laser lights or real, damaging laser beams. Unfortunately for Jackson, it was impossible to get any of the real estate moguls to invest in the design (possibly as a result of Jackson’s sex scandals), and the team had to drop their idea.

Instead of the giant robot, Jackson’s team decided on a “scaled down” plan to make a Michael Jackson–themed hotel and casino. They also refused to give up their dreams of robotic entertainment and planned to have Jackson’s shows involve a “giant audience-interactive video game with human cyborgs.”

All of these ideas never took off. Jackson did not have enough money and eventually decided against a Las Vegas residency. The city was spared from being stalked by a giant, laser-shooting Michael Jackson robot.

9Miami’s Artificial Sun

Miami is well known as a popular tourist area due to its perpetually warm weather and wonderful beaches. A pair of Swedish architects hope to capitalize on the sun-drenched city by erecting exactly what Miami needs: another Sun. Creatively named “Miami Sun,” the building is intended to be a 150-meter-tall (500 ft) half-orb with a hotel and casino. The exterior of the building is designed with screens that allow it to replicate the most vibrant sunsets during the day and to look like the Moon during the night.

If the architects get their way, Miami residents can look forward to a huge, otherworldly Sun-Moon combo right on the bay. As terrifying as that might sound, the Swedish architects have some practical reasoning behind their idea. The Miami Sun will be big enough to block out the real Sun during key summer months for people right near it. By doing this, tourists can have the joy of experiencing a sunny day without risking damage from dangerous UV rays. Fortunately for Miami residents, the city is extremely skeptical about the design, and it does not look like Miami will be building the artificial Sun anytime soon.

8Life-Size USS Enterprise

In 1992, the mayor of Las Vegas announced a project to redevelop downtown Vegas to pull some tourist money away from the big casinos on the strip. Countless project proposals were submitted, but the most interesting of all was the plan by the Goddard Group to build a life-size replica of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek.

The plan was an enormous undertaking. The Goddard Group proposed to build the Enterprise exactly to scale, making it a 300-meter-long (1,000 ft), 70-meter-tall (230 ft) attraction. Fittingly, the attraction would need new engineering techniques to keep the pylon and saucer held up without any external support. Instead of fitting the Enterprise with a hotel and casino as is standard for Vegas development projects, the ship was mainly geared toward shows, restaurants, rides, and other fan attractions.

Unfortunately, Paramount did not give the go-ahead for the licensing. Stanley Jaffe, CEO of Paramount, thought that the project would flop. Jaffe told the Goddard Group: “In the movie business, when we produce a big movie and it’s a flop—we take some bad press for a few weeks or a few months, but then it goes away. The next movie comes out and everyone forgets. But this—this is different. If this doesn’t work—if this is not a success—it’s there, forever . . . ”

Without the support of Paramount, the project stopped, and Las Vegas decided to go ahead with the Fremont Street Experience light show instead. Although a full-size Enterprise never came to fruition, the Goddard Group later built Star Trek: The Experience in the Las Vegas Hilton. This gave Star Trek fans the attraction they had waited for, until the Hilton tore it down in 2008.

7Valravn Roller Coaster

Unlike the other entries on this list, the Valravn roller coaster is one that you may actually be able to experience in your lifetime. It is currently under construction at Cedar Point in Ohio. When completed, the Valravn will break 10 world records, including one for the biggest dive roller coaster. Other roller coasters may have drops that seem vertical, but a dive roller coaster puts the riders through a long, 90-degree vertical drop. When the drop occurs, the riders are in complete free fall; the only thing keeping them in their seats are the restraints.

The Valravn has a 68-meter (223 ft) drop, ensuring that the riders get a few terrifying seconds where they are just falling. Because the drop is so long, the Valravn will also break the record for the fastest dive roller coaster at an insane 120 kilometers per hour (75 mph). Utilizing that fast speed and energy, the Valravn will put the riders through three inversions throughout the ride, once again breaking a world record while doing so. It is slated for completion in spring 2016, so brave riders can get ready to experience the feeling of complete free fall.

6Aeroscraft Flying Hotel

Large airships lost favor with the public after the Hindenburg explosion and due to the slow speed of airships. Since passengers wanted to get where they were going quickly, the idea of flying on a slow airship was uninviting, especially in the era of fast jet airliners. In recent years, many investors and designers have proposed bringing back the airship, but the most spectacular of them all is Igor Pasternak, who wants to build huge flying hotels that lumber across the world.

Named Aeroscraft, these airships will be the largest in the world at nearly 200 meters (650 ft) long and 50 meters (160 ft) tall. Aeroscraft will travel at a slow speed of 280 kilometers per hour (175 mph), which will allow it to cross the United States in 18 hours. That might seem like a long time, but riding in an Aeroscraft is not about the arrival at the destination but the experience of getting there. Aeroscraft will carry 250 passengers in utmost style. Interior amenities will include full staterooms, bars, lounges, casinos, conference rooms, and anything else a person may need on their flight. For transatlantic flights, Aeroscraft will basically be a flying hotel.

This may seem far-fetched, but Pasternak has already begun development on the project. Various investors have given him money, including the United States Department of Defense. Not only will Pasternak’s airships be good for passenger travel, they also have uses for freight lifting and defense. A half-scale airship called Dragon Dream took to the air in 2013, making the flying hotel seem like a future inevitability.

5Port Disney

Currently, DisneySea is the name of an aquatic theme park in Japan, but most people do not know that it’s based on an insane and complicated Disney park planned for California. Plans started in the late 1980s, when Disney began buying up real estate in Long Beach with plans to make Port Disney, a huge resort area on the California coast.

As Disney was buying land, it also made two other purchases, the RMS Queen Mary and the “Spruce Goose” airplane, which were key parts of the Port Disney plans. Disney planned to convert the Queen Mary into one of Port Disney’s five hotels. Plans for the port also included a huge marina that would serve as home for Disney cruise ships. The centerpiece of this oceanic property was a new Disney theme park, DisneySea.

The theme park would have been a huge architectural undertaking. Initial plans show that it had five huge domes, each one focusing on a different part of marine life and offering different attractions. Among these attractions were huge aquariums, natural history museums, a few rides, and—most surprisingly—an attraction where guests sat in steel cages in shark tanks so they could experience swimming with the sharks. DisneySea would also offer research opportunities to biologists studying marine life.

Even though the plans seemed impressive, residents of Long Beach opposed the project, and costs skyrocketed, becoming too high even for Disney. Instead of opening Port Disney, the company decided to develop the much more conventional California Adventure park next to Disneyland. Years later, architects used the DisneySea plans for a Tokyo theme park, which gave tourists a glimpse of what could have been.

4ACME United Nations Memorial Space

UN memorials are not usually big tourist attractions, but the United Nations Memorial Space in Chungju, South Korea will attract tourists from around the world. Chungju is the birthplace of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. The Memorial Space will be the focal point of a large UN Peace Park. The ACME proposal did not win the design competition, but it is certainly an interesting building.

ACME designed its building as a series of cells that resemble a honeycomb. To determine the cell arrangement, ACME used a Voronoi diagram. This is a mathematical diagram that partitions a plane based on a series of predetermined variables. By using Voronoi diagrams to decide on the design of its structure, ACME gave the Memorial Space building a fascinating and seemingly random facade quite unlike other buildings. This odd structure symbolized the UN’s unity—all countries coming together for a single purpose.

The inside of the Memorial Space building houses a 1,500-seat assembly hall, conference rooms, theaters, and exhibition areas. Due to the cellular design, each area can be easily reconfigured for different purposes without affecting the structure of the building. To top it off, ACME placed a garden area on the roof for delegates and tourists to experience fresh air. ACME architects also made the center of the building hollow to allow for natural light to illuminate the corridors. Oddly, the UN has not released the second place and winning designs. With ACME’s spectacular building taking third, the winning design is probably breathtaking.

3Russian Commercial Space Station

Space tourism is all the rage now, with companies across the world gearing up to offer tourists a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a price. Not to be outdone by American space companies, the Russians are getting into the game. Aerospace company Orbital Technologies made plans for the first ever commercial hotel space station. Designed to be serviced by Soyuz and Progress capsules, the Russian space hotel was intended to launch by 2016, but setbacks in the program have pushed the date closer to 2020.

When completed, the yet-unnamed space station will be the first hotel in space. The design is big enough to hold seven people and can host research projects, if other countries prefer to use it instead of the larger International Space Station. But the science part is secondary. Orbital Technologies is looking to rake in tourist money from wealthy vacationers. A short stay at the station will cost around $1 million.

Orbital Technologies also expects to use the space station to host media productions and large parties. The firm has attempted to gain US support by stating that ISS astronauts could use the station as a backup if they need to evacuate. Investors have put some money into the project, and Orbital Technologies is confident that it will succeed.

2The Berg: Artificial Mountain

Everybody loves mountains. They are beautiful, scenic, and provide a variety of wonderful, touristy things to do, like skiing. Unfortunately, not everybody has easy access to mountains. Most people have to travel to visit them, and many might not have the time or money to make such a trip. The city of Berlin, Germany is bereft of tall mountains. Architect Jakob Tigges wants to change that by building a huge artificial mountain in the middle of Berlin.

In 2008, Berlin demolished the historic Tempelhof airport, clearing a huge swath of land in the city. German politicians do not know what to do with the land. Into the vacuum jumped Tigges, who believed that an artificial mountain called “The Berg” could invigorate the country. Chief among his proposal was the chance to ski right in the city without taking a trip to the Alps. With beautiful slopes and alpine features, The Berg would attract tourists from around the world while being a cutting-edge architectural project.

Tigges is not clear on exactly how to construct The Berg, but he is still working on getting approval for the project. In the late 2000s, support for the project was rapidly developing, with people around the world expressing interest in The Berg. However, development has stalled, and it seems that any chance that The Berg had has now evaporated. Still, it remains on the table as an odd way to reinvigorate Berlin.

1Hilton Hotel On The Moon

In an episode of AMC’s hit series Mad Men, hotel mogul Conrad Hilton asks protagonist Don Draper to work on an ad campaign. The subject? A forthcoming Hilton hotel on the Moon. The show portrayed it as a quirk of Hilton’s character, but the Hilton Moon hotel was a real project and one of the earliest attempts at outer space tourism.

Plans for the Lunar Hilton began to really take shape in 1967 and gained the public’s interest after the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey introduced people to the idea of commercial space travel. Nobody knows if the plans were sincere or just a way to get more people interested in the Hilton company. Whatever the case, by the end of the 1960s, everybody was talking about the Lunar Hilton. The company even started to sell souvenirs and reservation cards for the eventual opening of the hotel. Designs showed a fairly conventional hotel, with the biggest selling point being the view. Nothing could compare to waking up to a view of the Earth. With the lunar landings in 1969, the Hilton project remained in the public eye.

As time went on, excitement over the project waned. Lunar Hilton dropped out of the public eye, turning into a mere curiosity of the early space program. But the Lunar Hilton rarely stays dead. Talks about the project began again in the 1990s. This time, Hilton discussed building two hotels: one in orbit around the Earth and another on the Moon. These plans are shelved for now, but when it becomes possible, Hilton will create one of the most interesting tourist traps in the solar system.

Zachery Brasier is a physics student who likes to write on the side.

Air travel is a common occurrence in our modern society. When most people imagine commercial airliners, they imagine the standard tube-and-wing configuration. However, aerospace engineers across the world are developing concepts for future airliners that would revolutionize air travel.

10 Aether Airship

Airships were a big part of commercial aviation before they slowly died off in the mid-20th century. However, some intrepid aerospace designers are now developing designs to bring airships back into use.

One of the more interesting ideas is the Aether airship. Designer Mac Byers realized that his airship needed to look different than old airships so that people did not associate it with disasters like the Hindenburg explosion. Thus, the Aether airship has a long, sharklike appearance that communicates both safety and futurism.

This airship is more like a cruise ship than a normal airliner. Conceptually, the Aether airship would travel to different locations while offering enough amenities so that passengers wouldn’t need to leave the airship if they didn’t want to.

Passengers would have access to a large variety of dining options and comfortable rooms to stay in. Byers’s design takes advantage of the scenic sky with large windows for the passengers.

Although the design is only a concept, it offers a glimpse into the future. Other companies are also investigating airship concepts. They are more economical, have a large payload capacity, and offer an entirely new travel experience for modern tourists. Within a few years, airships could make a return.

9 Boeing Blended-Wing Airliners

Although Boeing recently started production of its 787 airliner, its engineers are already working on their next airliner. This time, Boeing is planning to do something radically different from its standard designs.

Instead of the same fuselage-and-wing design, Boeing engineers are looking at creating a blended-wing airliner. In blended-wing designs, the wings and fuselage flow into each other, removing the distinction between the two parts.

Both NASA and Boeing are currently experimenting with blended wings for both commercial and military purposes. To explore the aerodynamic possibilities, the two groups worked together to build the X-48, an unmanned jet airplane built with a blended-wing design.

The X-48 tests were successful, showing that the airplane had a high payload, was quieter than expected, and had extremely good fuel efficiency. Based on this, it is obvious that blended-wing bodies are the future of aerospace.

NASA is considering civilian applications of the concept, hoping to develop prototypes for airliners within 20 years. On the other hand, Boeing is looking at military applications for the design, mostly for airlift and aerial refueling purposes.

Lockheed Martin is also looking into a future airlift design using blended-wing technology. The company hopes to design an airplane with a huge payload.

Since these companies are investing in blended-wing bodies, it is extremely likely that the next generation of airliners will use the concepts pioneered by the X-48.

8 Reaction Engines A2

Another big push in aerospace is hypersonic airliners. While the Concorde and the TU-144 made history as the first commercially operated supersonic airliners, modern engineers are now looking to design airliners that are capable of speeds in excess of Mach 5.

On the cutting edge is UK company Reaction Engines Limited, which designed a concept for an airliner called the A2. This futuristic-looking airplane would travel at hypersonic speeds and be environmentally friendly.

The A2 uses the Scimitar engine, another design from Reaction Engines. The Scimitar uses technology that is derived from the SABRE engine. Both engines are hybrid engines. But while the SABRE uses rocket engines, the Scimitar uses a hybrid ramjet and normal air-breathing jet engine design.

When the Scimitar is flying at high speed, it uses the ramjet. But during takeoff and landing, it engages a high bypass mode that operates like a normal jet engine. The Scimitar uses liquid hydrogen for fuel, which also cools the engine right before ignition. This type of engine is known as a pre-cooled engine and is used for long-range endurance at hypersonic speeds.

Due to concerns over sonic boom noise, the A2 would only fly hypersonically over the ocean or unpopulated areas. When flying over populated regions, it would fly just under the speed of sound.

At top speed, the A2 can fly from Australia to northern Europe in just five hours. One big concern with the A2 is passenger comfort. Due to concerns over stress on the airframe, the A2 does not have windows. Claustrophobic customers might find the flight uncomfortable.

7 Bombardier Antipode

Not content to let the UK take the lead with hypersonic aerospace designs, Canadian company Bombardier recently got in the game with the Antipode, their concept business jet. They designed a small airplane that only carries a few people but can fly at Mach 24. At that speed, the Antipode can travel from New York to London in 11 minutes.

The Antipode concept makes use of a scramjet engine, a rather straightforward improvement on the normal ramjet engine. Scramjets have no moving parts such as fans or compressors. Instead, they rely on the speed of the airplane to force air through the engine.

As the scramjet travels at high Mach numbers, hypersonic air enters the engine and slows down to supersonic speeds. Then more hypersonic air enters the engine after the slowed air, forcing it through the engine and producing thrust with combustion.

To get to the speeds required for the scramjet to work, the Antipode would use rocket boosters to launch off the ground. Once the airplane gets to cruising altitude and speed, the scramjet would kick in, accelerating the vehicle to Mach 24.

However, a big concern is that the body of the airplane would get too hot at those speeds from air friction. Bombardier proposes a solution called long penetration mode. The system uses vents in the nose of the airplane to blow chilled supersonic air over the fuselage, cooling it while also reducing the sonic boom noise.

Whether the Antipode will ever be put into service is up for debate, but the concepts designed for it may be used in the next generation of airliners.

6 Boeing Pelican

In the early 2000s, Boeing investigated the construction of a new transoceanic airplane called the Pelican. Although designed primarily to carry cargo, the ideas behind the Pelican are applicable for commercial airliners. In concept, the Pelican was a huge airplane which used the ground effect to fly.

The ground effect is an aerodynamic phenomenon in which low-flying objects with specially shaped wings can trap air beneath them and use the cushion to glide quickly and efficiently across water. The Pelican would take advantage of the ground effect over the ocean, flying only 6 meters (20 ft) above the water.

During overland flight, the Pelican would fly at normal altitudes. By using the ground effect, Boeing hoped that the Pelican would be extremely fuel efficient, which was important for the gigantic airplane. With a wingspan of 150 kilometers (500 ft), the Pelican would be the largest airplane in the world.

Although the design was promising, Boeing has not revisited the concept since the early 2000s for unknown reasons. However, the concept of a ground-effect transport will likely reappear in civilian aviation because it can carry loads comparable to ships at higher speeds with minimal fuel cost.

5 SAX-40

Even when airplanes are traveling as subsonic speeds, their engine noise is annoying to people living around airports and can cause adverse health effects for people working around airplanes. To combat the problem, a group from MIT and Cambridge University developed the SAX-40, a super-quiet airplane concept.

Airplanes are noisy mainly because of irregularities in their bodies, so the SAX-40 is highly streamlined. Due to its body shape, the SAX-40 has far more lift than a normal airplane. As a result, it would not need to use flaps to get enough lift during takeoff and landing, reducing the noisiness of the engines.

The engine intakes are on top of the airplane, letting the fuselage shield people on the ground from engine noise. To cut the noise of the engine exhaust, the SAX-40 uses variable exhausts that would change shape during flight for minimal noise.

These are the major design features of the SAX-40. With its lifting body design and special wings, the airplane would only generate 63 decibels of noise on takeoff and landing outside the airport perimeter. For comparison, normal jets take off at 100 decibels. The SAX-40 would generate as much noise as an air-conditioning unit.

4 SpaceLiner

The German Aerospace Center (GAC) is currently developing its own design for high-speed travel. However, instead of just relying on standard airplane ideas, the GAC is developing a spaceplane called the SpaceLiner.

In concept, the SpaceLiner combines the best characteristics of a rocket and an airplane. Like the US space shuttle, the SpaceLiner uses a two-stage concept. The spaceplane rides up to high orbit on a cryogenic rocket booster, which then drops away.

To make the concept reusable, the Germans are developing special planes to capture the falling booster in midair. At extremely high altitudes, the SpaceLiner accelerates to Mach 25, which would enable it to fly from Australia to Europe in under 90 minutes.

At the end of the trip, the spaceplane lands like any normal airplane. The project has many advantages, including speed and reusability. But the SpaceLiner is also environmentally friendly. Since it uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as rocket propellant, the only by-product of its engines is water vapor. The GAC hopes to see the SpaceLiner in operation by 2050.

3 AWWA-QG Progress Eagle

The AWWA-QG Progress Eagle is one of the most complex concept airplanes floating around. At first glance, it seems like somebody just combined every cool future technology into one airplane, but the Progress Eagle is a valid proposal for a large, environmentally friendly passenger airplane.

The Progress Eagle is huge, dwarfing every other airliner with its triple-deck design and 800-passenger payload. Due to its huge size, the Progress Eagle has folding wings so that current airports would not have to go through big renovations.

For power, the Progress Eagle uses six hydrogen-powered engines, which also provide electricity during the flight. However, most of the electricity would come from the solar panels in the wings. These panels use quantum dot material to boost efficiency.

The Progress Eagle would also sport a CO₂ cleaner to actively clean the air through which it travels. Designer Oscar Vinals is optimistic that his airplane will enter service in 2030.

2 Concorde 2

Although the Concorde, the first supersonic airliner, was eventually retired, its legacy lives on with the next generation of proposed airliners. Last year, Airbus won patent rights for their design of a new airplane called the Concorde 2. Following in the original plane’s footsteps, this second version would push the boundaries of flight to become the first hypersonic airliner.

The key selling point of the new plane would be its Mach 4.5 cruising speed. But the plane has a variety of other strange features, most notably its propulsion system. The Concorde 2 would use three types of engines.

For takeoff, the plane would use lift jets for a vertical takeoff, similar to a Harrier jump jet. Once the Concorde 2 is in the air, a rocket engine would shoot the passenger jet to its altitude and supersonic speeds. Finally, ramjets on the wings would accelerate the plane to its Mach 4.5 cruising speed.

To cut down on sonic booms, the Concorde 2 has an odd-looking wing that also provides high lift. Although the Concorde 2 would be faster than the original plane, it also has a smaller passenger complement—only 20 people compared to original Concorde’s 120.

1 Mobula

The Mobula, designed by Chris Cooke from Coventry University, is one of the strangest new concepts for an airliner. This breathtaking design bridges the gap between airplanes and ocean liners. Capable of carrying over 1,000 passengers on five decks, the Mobula is about more than getting to the destination. It is also about the experience.

Like the Pelican, the Mobula is an ekranoplan. Flying just a few meters above the ocean, the Mobula can use the ground effect for lift and rapid travel. For water operations, the Mobula also has floating capabilities and can easily rest on the surface on the water.

After studying the shape of animals, Cooke designed the Mobula with its organic look. But the design is not meant for pure aesthetics. In wind tunnel tests, the Mobula proved ideal for low-altitude flying with minimal drag.

Although the Mobula will probably remain a concept vehicle, it gives a glimpse into the future of air travel. Large, fast-moving ekranoplans would change the way that people travel across the ocean. Even if the Mobula is never built, it could become an important precursor to a revolution in air travel.

Zachery Brasier writes.