Mars (FWNG)

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a terraformed developed atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth. The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons. Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the highest known mountain within the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, the largest canyon. The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40% of the planet and may be a giant impact feature.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be captured asteroids, similar to 5261 Eureka, a Martian Trojan asteroid. Mars is currently host to a variety of spacecraft, satellites, research bases and space stations within orbit and on its surface from several different nations.

Mars has approximately half the radius of Earth. It is less dense than Earth, having about 15% of Earth's volume and 11% of the mass. Its surface area is only slightly less than the total area of Earth's dry land. While Mars is larger and more massive than Mercury, Mercury has a higher density. This results in the two planets having a nearly identical gravitational pull at the surface—that of Mars is stronger by less than 1%. Mars is also roughly intermediate in size, mass, and surface gravity between Earth and Earth's Moon (the Moon is about half the diameter of Mars, whereas Earth is twice; the Earth is about nine times more massive than Mars, and the Moon one-ninth as massive). The red-orange appearance of the Martian surface is caused by iron(III) oxide, more commonly known as hematite, or rust.

Exploration
Various spacecraft have been sent to Mars since the 1970s and the first surface landings of spacecraft occurred in 1971 and 1976. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s surface rover vehicles have been deployed to the surface to take samples, photos and explore. In 2008 the Union of Everett's NASA space program in a joint operation with the military developed a new manned spacecraft to replace and upgrade the aging shuttle program and utilizing the new spacecraft, launched the first manned mission to Mars in 2009. Astronauts landed on Mars surface on August 18, 2009 via the Expedition class shuttle Expedition, which was assisted by an upgraded fusion Orbiter, Explorer. During the mission, the first modules of the Mars Research Station were set into orbit. The MRS was the first human space station in orbit of Mars and was completed in 2010. From MRS, manned scientific research of Mars surface was possible. Up to fifteen crew could remain at MRS for a period of three to four months. Following the MRS missions, a ground base was planned and began construction in 2012.

Colonization
The first space colony on Mars surface was the Mars Research Base, established by the Union of Everett and utilized by a joint effort of NASA, ESA, ISA and other nations' programs. At the same time of the construction of Mars Research Base, the East Asian Federation began the terraforming and construction of facilities on the moon Phobos, which would later become Umi, a tourist resort world and EAF space base. The Mars Research Base was completed in 2015 and a later space tether completed in 2017. From 2017 to 2025, outposts, research stations, power facilities and experimentation labs had been constructed in various locations around Mars. In April of 2026, the Union of Everett, European Union and East Asian Federation announced a joint plan to terraform Mars into a habitable planet with the Mars Habitability Research Program.

Terraforming
On April 28, 2026, the joint space programs of NASA, ESA, ISA and AEXA announced the Mars Habitability Research Program. The mission was to alter Mars' atmosphere into a breathable one and construct an ecosystem of plants from Earth, provide water and later cause gradual melting of Mars' icecaps to create lakes, seas and later oceans. Because of the sheer size of Mars, the program was estimated to take almost a decade to accomplish a basic Earth-like habitability, starting with atmosphere alteration. From 2027 to 2034, Mars' atmosphere was altered through both plant life carbon dioxide-oxygen production and bio-atmospheric generation technology. Establishment of large generation facilities used oxygen generation bio-reactors to alter the atmosphere. As of 2030, the oxygen content of Mars' atmosphere could sustain human life with aided oxygen respirators. Experimental man made forests in research facilities faired well exposed to the Martian atmosphere.

FUTURE By 2035, Mars had several man made forests in the northern and southern regions, fed with irrigation supplied from the slowly melting ice caps. By 2036, ten years into the program, ice caps had melted enough to create small northern and southern seas and large lakes. Plant life thrived in these zones. Animal life was not projected to be added to the ecosystem until 2042.