2.7 Terran Explorations: Mars (Sol IV)

Mars was known as the Red Planet in early Terran lore due to its distinctive reddish color. This is due to the fact that its atmosphere is saturated with iron oxide. Mars was a harsh world, once teeming with life, but all of it had died to a planetary cataclysm that completely destroyed the former fifth planet in the Sol System. It disintegrated into the inner asteroid belt as almost half the surface of Mars was impacted by meteors of every shape and size. The Valles Marineris was formed around this time. It is the largest canyon on any planet or moon in the Sol System. Also formed around the same time was Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the Sol System. Mars remained a lifeless world for tens of thousands of years, with most of its atmosphere gone and what little water remaining frozen at its poles, until the coming of man in the late 20th century. Early manned expeditions such as Mars Probe One and the Martian Genesis found the Red Planet to be a harsh world with many secrets of its lost past buried beneath its sands. Not until the founding of the Martian Colonies in 2008 (and the establishment of the UESPA base at Sidonia somewhat earlier) did Mars begin to yield the secrets of its past. Some were pleasant, such as the alien ruins at Sidonia and the prehistoric fossils in the Valeris Mons. Some were not so pleasant, as the new colonists were about to find out.

A long-range project began in 2009 to jump-start the Red Planet’s long-stalled ecosystem. This terraforming effort, which would not be completed for two centuries, almost met with disaster right from the start. A previously unknown virus that had remained dormant due the planet’s cool temperatures bestirred itself in the presence of the new, warm, thriving human settlements. Martian fever, as it became known, ravaged the Martian Colonies for a year until a cure was finally found. Once the epidemic was over, however, the colonies began to boom once again.

Mars played a key role in Terra’s early spacefaring efforts. It was the first true planet to be settled by Terra. Within three generations the four colonies (and one military base) that were established on its surface grew to support a population measuring in the tens of thousands. Even after the construction of Asterpolis (2026) and the UESF Titan Fleet Base (2034) Mars continued to be a key waypoint in Terran space travel. It was also the site of the first off-Terra major spaceyard and spacecraft support complex, which would in time grow to become the largest (if not the most prominent) in the Sol System. Even today the Utopia Planitia Spaceyard competes with the best in the Federation in the building, support, and refurbishing of Star Fleet and other Federation vessels.

Specifications:

• Distance from system star: 225 million km
• Period of revolution (Terran measure): 24.623 hours
• Period of orbit (Terran measure): 686.96 days
• Mass: 7.3447x10²² kg
• Diameter: 6804.9 km
• Axial inclination: 25.15º
• Average surface temperature: -63º C (prior to terraforming, now 30ºC)
• Satellites: 2 (Phobos, Demios)
• Planetary Richter Scale rating: K
• Level of technology: current
• Indigenous culture(s): extinct (homo ariean)
• Additional culture(s): human (homo terran)

Major surface features:

• Valles Marineris
• Olympus Mons
• Tharses Plain

Places to visit:

• The Carl Sagan Memorial
• The Martian Genesis Historical Site
• The Hogan Richman Museum (Sidonia Plain)
• The Ma’adim Vallis Fossil Fields
• The Utopia Planitia Spaceyards Orbital Museum