The solar system has eight planets (as, since 2006, Pluto is no longer considered to be a planet) and many moons. In the late 22nd century, much of the solar system was settled and various terraforming projects existed on many of the planets and moons. Departing from the Sun, one can find:

Mercury

Mercury was settled in the 22nd century. The train city Terminator was constructed, set on tracks so that it would always be on the terminator (the predawn shadow) between the cold of the night and the burning light of the Sun.

Venus

The ambitious terraforming of Venus began in the 22nd century. The temperature was being brought down at 5 K a year; the CO2 would condensate; the Big Rain would follow and dry ice would form; water would have to brought from elsewhere, perhaps from the Saturnian moon Enceladus. The terraformers lived on asteroids on its orbit.

Terra

Or Earth. It has one moon, Luna. Birthplace of the human race. Main article.

Mars

Settled in the 21st century. Main article.

Asteroid belt

Used for mining and prisons.

Jupiter

In the late 22nd century, the Jovian League conducted more or less advanced terraforming projects on 18 of Jupter’s moons. Huge space mirrors and gas lanters burning in Jupiter’s atmosphere reflected by dishes provided light. The four Galilean moons, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa and Io, had ambitious terraforming projects. Big tents were on their surface. The Jovian League headquarters were at Lake Geneva on Callisto.

Saturn

In the late 22nd century, the moon Enceladus was in the process of terraforming, with an orbiting soletta.

Uranus

The moon Miranda was settled late in the 22nd century.

Neptune

Plans to settle its moons existed in the end of the 22nd century.

Pluto

Plans to settle it existed in the end of the 22nd century.

Beyond

During the Accelerando, starships were built out of asteroids that were hollowed out and given a spin. Trips to the closest stars where telluric planets suitable for terraforming would last some 20 years.

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Sheffield was an important Martian city, home of the two successive space elevators and a hub for interplanetary trade and political decisions.

Situated in Pavonis Mons (“peacock mountain” in Latin), one of the big Tharsis volcanoes, at the planet’s equator, it was the perfect candidate for being the receiving end of a space elevator.

First city

From the moment UNOMA approved the elevator, in ca.2047, to the moment it was completed, in ca.2058, Sheffield experienced a tremendous amount of development, with infrastructure to transport manpower and goods to the planet’s future departure point for Terra. Sheffield offered a magnificent view inside the caldera of Pavonis Mons.

UNOMA financed the construction. However, equipment and personnel had been provided by Praxis. The elevator touched down on Mars in the so-called Socket, the complex where elevator cars were loaded and unloaded. Sheffield housed the offices of the Space Elevator Authority.

Sheffield became the third capital city of Mars, taking over from Burroughs. Many small tents were created around it as immigrants arrived and the Sheffield metropolis expanded. The tents were connected by a railway web. Some adjacent tents were Texas (mainly populated by Americans), El Paso (mainly populated by Americans and Latinos).

During the First Martian Revolution, the elevator was destroyed; the elevator cable wrapped itself around Mars and fell across the eastern side of the metropolis’ domes. The Sheffield metropolis was partially destroyed.

Second city

A second space elevator was planned and Sheffield was rebuilt and further developed, building over the ruins of the first city. The second elevator opened in the end of the 21st century and Sheffield remained an important trade hub.

During the Second Martian Revolution, it saw violent skirmishes between UNTA forces and the Kakaze, who were attempting to take down the elevator.

It then hosted the congress set to draft a Martian constitution.

The strategic nature of the elevator made Sheffield also play a role in the Third Martian Revolution, when Terran forces took over the elevator and sent down armed troops in the city. The Martian government and population were able to resolve the matter peacefully.

Because of its high altitude, Sheffield is condemned to remain a tented city.

Meta

Sheffield was named after the American science fiction writer Charles Sheffield, who wrote The Web Between Two Worlds featuring a space elevator. It was published in 1979, almost simultaneously with Arthur C. Clarke’s The Fountains Of Paradise, which also featured a space elevator (Clarke is the name of the other end of the Martian space elevator). Charles Sheffield, who died in 1992, is given “special thanks” in the Acknowledgments of the novels by Kim Stanley Robinson.

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Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, after Terra. The first unmanned mission to successfully land on Mars was Viking 1 in 1976. The first manned mission landed in 2020 and the first Man to walk on Mars was John Boone; his first words were “Well, here we are”.

Mars has a gravity of .38 g.

Satellites

Historically, Mars had two natural satellites, Phobos and Deimos. Phobos was destroyed and Deimos was driven away from Mars’s orbit. An asteroid was thrust in Martian orbit to replace them, Pseudophobos.

Terraforming

Terraforming was approved by UNOMA in ca. 2030. Echus Overlook was built as the terraforming headquarters, under the directorship of Sax Russell. Some important contributors to the terraforming efforts were, apart from Russell, Spencer Jackson, Harry Whitebook and H. X. Borazjani.

The terraforming of Mars was sufficient enough for humans to breathe freely in the open air (with the help of gene modifications) at around the middle of the 22nd century.

Atmosphere

2027: 10 mbar (96% CO2)
ca.2046: 50 mbar
ca.2055: 100 mbar
ca.2057: 130 mbar
ca.2090: 170 mbar
ca.2130: 400 mbar, rising at 15 mbar per year
ca.2155: 500 mbar at sea level (40 mbar CO2, 260 mbar N2, 170 mbar O2)

Population

2027: 100
ca.2058: 1,000,000
2181: 18,000,000

Government

Mars was dependent on the Terran-controlled UNOMA and later on UNTA. The first capital city was the oldest Martian city, Underhill. The boomtown Burroughs became the second capital. Due to being the receiving end of the space elevator, Sheffield was the industrial and commercial capital for years.

After Mars acquired independence, a constitution was passed and the independent Martian government was created. A new city, Mangala, was built and became the administrative capital of Mars.

Culture

Prior to the First Martian Revolution, young Reds had a stone eyetooth as a sign of recognition.

Sabishii University was a renowned and popular destination for students in the late 21st century-early 22nd century.

In the late 22nd century, air pressure was sufficient enough to permit flight in individual birdsuits.

Mythology

Many Martian myths speak of a native sentient people, the Ka, who live on Mars undetected by humans. Humans can be aware of their existence only if the Ka choose to. Of all people, the Ka would only have contacted John Boone. The second human they contacted would have been Nirgal.

Another native inhabitant of Mars was Big Man.

It is believed that the lumberjack Paul Bunyan, with his blue ox Babe, was the first man to arrive on Mars, before John Boone.

See also

Timeline of events
List of Martian settlements and cities
Martian calendar
Martian government

External links

Mars trilogy landmarks add-on for World Wind (3D interactive world viewer developed by NASA, now open source)
GoogleMars, a GoogleMaps-like viewer

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Echus Overlook was a city built in the 2030s inside one of the cliffs of Echus Chasma, formed by ancient aquifer outbreaks.

When Sax Russell was appointed chief scientist of the terraforming effort by UNOMA he used the finance to build a terraforming headquarters at Echus. Built on a 3 kilometer-tall cliff and made of some 400 stories, Echus Overlook offered a mgnificent view. Russell gathered a team of physicists, chemists and biologists in Echus to work on all means possible that would contribute to terraforming and as such Echus was a key place in shaping the Martian industry of the early years. Nuclear power plants released heat; moholes were dug; greenhouse gases were manufactured and released. One particular and very effective gas mixture created at Echus was given the nickname “Russell cocktail” by the science team.

The city came to occupy the entire height of the cliff, with Echus Overlook at its top and Echus Underlook below. After the 2061 revolution, terraforming decisions were taken in multiple places across the planet and Echus was used as a launchpad for light airplanes. The Martian underground also had a secret hideout near Echus with an ultralite plane.

Echus was represented at the Pavonis constitutional congress in 2128. Unlike many other of the early settlements like Underhill, it escaped from becoming a dim historical monument because of its cliffs and the winds falling on it: Echus became a flier’s paradise.

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