Mars

From Acw

Mars is the 4th planet of the Sol System.

History

• The Russians did not develop their Moon programme, choosing instead to shoot for Mars. In 1986, The Russians land the first man on Mars

• In 1989, Russia establishes the first Mars Colony Voskhod, where the Treaty of Voskhod was signed in 2006.

• In 1990 Grossdeutschland launches an expedition to Mars from its Luna holdings. They establish their first Mars colony, Mars Kolonie Ein, in 1997

• In 2006 under the Treaty of Voskhod, Grossdeutschland and the USSR divide Mars between them and agree to co-operate on the terraforming and joint protection of Mars from external powers.

• In 2011 large scale terraforming begins on Mars with the German and Russian fleets detonating nuclear weapons at the poles. The resulting detonations melt water and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Simulataneously, the first Great Mirror moves into position over the northern pole. Meanwhile on the surface largescale factories produce CFCs and PFCs.

• In 2014 the first microbial lifeforms are released across the globe, genetically designed to help build an atmosphere.

• In 2015 the first of seventeen asteroids is sent into the martian atmosphere. These gas rich asteroids largely burn up in the atmosphere serving to add volume to the thin martian atmosphere.

• In 2016 the first rains begin to fall on Mars. This proves a disaster, with massive mudslides wiping out Voskhod and Mars Kolonie Ein, including most of their inhabitants. The planet is left uninhabited whilst terraforming is completed

• In 2023 terraforming of Mars completes sufficiently to allow a man to breath the atmosphere unaided for short periods of time, although the daytime temperatures are still cold to icy.

• In the 2020s and 30s, Britain constructed experimental arcology housing on Phobos and Deimos, using technology that was later copied by the Germans on Luna and Arminius, to make otherwise barren moons livable and almost self-sufficient.

• In 2028 both Russia and Grossdeustchland re-establish permanent colonies on the martian surface.

• In 2033 both Russian and German nations begin large scale population relocation to Mars. The expected lifespan of these colonists settles in the mid thirties as many difficulties are encountered. Despite this, many are willing to seek a new better life on Mars rather than face growing population density and competition for resources on Earth.

• 2033-2077 Terraforming efforts continue for the better part of half a century as more of the surface is slowly made habitable. These efforts focus on improvement of quality of life rather than specific needs for survival on the surface. Efforts focus on increasing the biodiversity of the planet, generation of artificial magetospheres over large population centres to protect against radiation, maintenance of the atmosphere, cleanup of nuclear fallout at the poles. Life expectancy rises from the mid thirties to the mid sixties over this period.

• In 2077 the last super factory producing greenhouse gases is turned off and redeveloped. The Martian atmosphere is now warm enough to be comparable with Earth during the early 21st century.

• in the early 2100s, under the growing pressure of events like the 2114 Prague Sit-in and the Migration Crises of the 2120s, Mars became the site for massive population resettlements for Russia and Germany. The availability of Mars for German population migration was the determining factor in Germany not constructing any Ark Ships.

Politics

Russia

Krasnograd - capital - change Petrova's character sheet.

Grossdeutschland

Structure of Administration

The Grossdeutschland controlled portion of Mars is subdivided into 3 separate colonies or Flächenländer (area states), each with its own appointed governor and administration. This subdivision of power was undertaken after the massive population resettlement of the early 2100's. With millions of individuals migrating to Mars in order to escape the increasing effects of climate change on Earth, the population of the Grossdeutschland colony on Mars expanded exponentially and the administrative staff appointed to Mars at the time simply couldn't handle the massive increase in numbers. In order to facilitate easier management of the now sizeable population, the colony was divided in 3. The 3 colonies are:

• Mars Zentral
• Mars Landwirtschaftlich Staat
• Neu Hessen

Each individual colony encompasses a 60º area of longtitude, with Mars Zentral bordering the 0º north-south meridian, Neu Hessen bordering the 180º meridian and Mars Landwirtschaftlich Staat falling between the two.

Each colony is further subdivided into individual Kreise, called either Landkreise or Stadtkreise depending of whether they are predominately rural based or urban based respectively. These report directly to the colonial goverment and administer the day to day running of smaller scale operations (waste disposal, small scale road projects, public utilities etc) within their designated area.

Geography and Geology

Geological History

Due to its relative geological stability in comparison with Earth and with the absence of comprehensive fossil data, determining the detailed geological history of Mars proved almost impossible to the first USSR and Grossdeustchland scientists who arrived there. Using a visible and infrared mineralogical mapping Spectrometer and based upon the correlation between the mineralogy and geology of the planet however, Soviet scientists were able to develop a proposed timeline that divided the geological history of the planet into 3 epochs. They named each of these epochs after famous Russian geologists.

• Karpinskian - lasted from the formation of the planet until around 4000 million years ago. Consisting, lithologically, largely of phyllosilicates and is interpreted as a time where predominately alkaline seas covered much of the Martian surface
• Chikhachovian - lasting until about 3500 million years ago, was a period of intense volcanic activity. Sulfate rich rocks suggest the large amount of volcanism during this interval generated a great deal of sulfur dioxide, which would have had a marked affect of surface water chemistry (change from alkaline to acidic).
• Rusanovian - from 3500 million years ago until the present. Volcanism on Mars ceased and liquid water became absent during this period. With the absence of water or tectonic activity, the geological evolution of Mars from the beginning of this period up until terraforming consists of aeolian erosion and surface iron oxidation.

Following terraforming, the geological processes active on Mars changed dramatically. With the availabilty of free standing water, fluvial erosion becomes active, and marine deposition once again begins to take place. This has resulted in major changes to Martian topography and surface mineralogy, and some scientists have proposed creation of a new Martian epoch, the Nedavnian.

Topography

Prior to terraforming, topographically Mars consisted of plains flattened by lava flows in the north and in the south, a series of highlands, pitted and cratered by ancient meteorite impacts. Post terraforming the surface of Mars has changed dramatically and continues to change at a rapid rate. With the creation of extensive seas and oceans on the martian surface, a new zero point datum for topography was established. Grossdeustchland cartographers were the first to produce detailed topographic maps of the post-terraformed martian surface and refered to this new zero point datum as neumartian sea level (NSL), a standard that has been adopted by the greater scientific community.

Land Masses

Mars, being tectonically inactive, does not possess individual continents or plates. The surface of the planet is effectively one large land mass. With the reintroduction of surface water bodies following the melting of the polar ice caps, what can now be called 'land' is concentrated in the southern half in the planet, with virtually no land projecting above the sea surface in the northern half of the planet.

Mountains

Forty-one mountains have currently been identified on the martian surface. Prior to terraforming the total number of features identified as mountains (posessing relief in comparison to surrounding area) was fifty-five, but with the creation of surface water bodies, many of these former 'mountains' have been submerged and now represent seamounts.

Unlike mountains on Earth, largely formed at sites of significant tectonic activity (mid-ocean ridges, subduction zones, continental collion zones), the lack of extended period of tectonic activity on Mars means all of the planet's significant relief structures formed due to long-lived hot spot volcanism. Because of this, Mars possesses none of the extensive mountain chains that characterise the surface of many other planets.

The highest mountain on Mars is the massive Gora Olympus, which is recorded at 23km above NSL

Bodies of Water

Prior to terraforming, no surface water was present on Mars. Post-terraforming, the melting of the polar ice caps, the introduction of extraterrestrial material to the planet and the increase in barometric pressure, allowing surface permafrost to liquify, as resulted in extensive seas and oceans covering almost 60% of the planet. Most of the water is concentrated in the northern hemisphere, in a massive flat bottomed ocean named Martian Panthalassa, in reference to its similarilty to the Panthalassic Ocean, the vast body of water that surrounded the Earth supercontinent of Pangaea. The only other significant bodies of water are the Hellas Sea, a completely landlocked water body that consists of a water filled impact crater, and the Khrushchev Dolina, a vast canyon system that runs, approximately, along the martian equator.

The deepest point on Mars in the north-western portion of the Hellas sea, recorded at just over 8km below NSL

Geomorphological Instability

Something neither Soviet or Grossdeustchland scientists considered when implementing their terraforming program was the consequences of reintroducing a hydrologic cycle to a planet that lithologically, is composed largely of basaltic type rocks extensively weathered over a 3.5 billion year period. The results where an absolute disaster. The first serious storm was met with jubilation by those scientists who had orchestrated it until they realised that the very landscape was eroding before their eyes. As the rains poured down, stripping material from the highlands in the south, massive mudslides firstly filled many of the craters that pockmarked the planet's surface and, with that complete, began to transport material towards to topographically lower northern plains. With no vegetation to bind the surface material, and the fine grained nature of martial soil, global scale erosion was unstoppable. In the first weeks alone, it is estimated almost a metre of top soil was removed from some locations.

This level of erosion on a planet-wide scale was to prove catastrophic for the early Soviet and Grossdeustchland colonists. Within hours of the first rains, both nations colonies were completely washed away, with virtually no survivors. It would be 12 years before any location on the martian surface was stable enough for either nation to re-establish a colony.

Even almost 400 years after initial colonisation, the martian surface is still highly unstable and continues to erode at a phenomenal rate. In the period since terraforming it is estimated that Gora Olympus has reduced almost 250m in height and that globally, ocean depth has been reduced by 1148m. Without any tectonic activity to remove and reintroduce lithological material, Mars' surface is slowly flattening. Based upon current rates, future projections suggest full ocean infill in around 2500 years.

Military

Economy

Demographics

Culture