Mars Terraforming Project
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The goal for the Mars Terraforming Project is to give Mars a Steppes/Taiga/Desert/Savannah climate, with Olympus Mons becoming a "very Rocky Mountain Ski Resort kind of place". The Barsoomians insisted on an atmosphere thick enough to breathe and Hellas Planitia to be filled with water, so that Helium could host an annual regatta on the Hellas Sea.
The two main things Mars needs for long term viability are an atmosphere and a magnetosphere. Atmosphere's the easiest part of this; it's never going to be a full 1 bar, but a good .75 to .85 bar at "sea level" is possible. The tricky bit is setting up a magnetosphere to protect the new air. The atmosphere should be stable for the short term even without a magnetosphere (for values of "short term" running into the 2200s at least), but the Project doesn't want to have to replenish the planet's air every century or two.
The project plans to simulate a magnetosphere by a Xavier Protocols style set of magnetic field generator satellites (solar powered, hardened, armed, and patrolled).
Timeline
- Fall 2008
- Mars Terraforming Project begins.
- Jan 2009
- Port Phobos expansion begins.
- Deimos becomes increasingly hollow as terraforming experiments continue.
- Summer 2009
- Anticipation: Formal proposals for the Venus and Mars Terraforming Projects are put together, voted on, and agreed to.
- Sept 2009
- Port Phobos expansion reaches final stage.
- Deimos formally becomes MTP home base.
- Dec 2009
- Port Phobos becomes busiest port in Fenspace.
- Feb 2010
- Mars Terraforming Project charter finally signed by all parties. First of five magnetic field projector trial satellites is orbited.
- March 2010
- Kandor-Con: Treaty of Kandor-Con clears the terraforming projects of violations of the Outer Space Treaty.
- May 2010
- Magnetic field satellite trial finishes. Work started on next-generation versions.
- July 2010
- Ultra High Resolution scans of Mars are completed.
- Sept 2010
- The terraforming projects agree to avoid using Saturn for resources, going to the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud for water reserves.
- Nov 2010
- First of six test comet drops occurs in southern Mars.
- Dec 2010
- First Xavier-class magnetosphere generator satellite orbited over Mars. One will be orbited each month until the constellation of 60 plus 10 spares is completed.
- Feb 2011
- Second test comet drop on Mars, this time filmed extensively.
- Mars orbital traffic becomes so extensive that MTP committee places Port Phobos in charge of orbital ATC duties. This is assisted by Starbase 1.
- April 2011
- Initial deployment of oxy-generating bacteria on Mars.
- June 2011
- Third Martian test comet drop ends in failure when the comet disintegrates violently in upper martian atmosphere.
- July 2011
- The Aukland near-miss causes the MTP to halt its test comet drops until it sorts out comet selection procedures and upgrades safety protocols.
- Dec 2011
- MTP resumes test comet drops, but on a six month schedule instead of three.
- March 2012
- Delays in getting resources from the Main Belt causes the Trekkies, Warsies, and Senshi to send investigative missions out to it to assist the Wizards.
- May 2012
- SOS-Con: Operation Great Justice takes resources away from the terraforming projects, slowing them down.
- With the delivery of the 16th Xavier satellite, Mars has a measurable (if very weak) magnetosphere again.
- June 2013
- Fifth (and last) test comet drop on Mars occurs.
- Sept 2013
- Terraforming projects temporarily halted after attack on Serenity-con.
- Jan 2014
- End of Boskone War. Terraforming projects resumed.
(stuff happens)
- 2060 - 2070
- Mars reaches the desired atmospheric pressure and surface temperature. The main aquifers have been melted and the basins flooded to the planned depth.
- 2150 - 2300
- Sometime in this range plant and animal life has reached ecopoietic status in the "untamed" parts of Mars. The Martian Terraforming Project is officially over.
Failed Advertising Slogans For the Mars Terraforming Project
It's Mars, It's Not As Cold As Deep Space!
It's Mars, maybe you can breathe here someday!
Mars: Like Earth Without the Pollution
Famous Staff
The SOS-Con scene "Down In Callahan's Bar" established that somebody handwaved Mars Rover Opportunity, who has since found work with the Mars Terraforming Project
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