Terraforming

“	Since 'tis certain that Earth and Jupiter have their Water and Clouds, there is no reason why the other Planets should be without them.	”
—Christiaan Huygens, Cosmostheoros (1695)

Terraforming, as the term is used in Fenspace, is the process of giving a planet an Earthlike atmosphere and biosphere.

There are two terraforming projects underway in the Solar System: the Mars Terraforming Project and the Venus Terraforming Project. Even with handwavium, altering either of these planets to have a perfect duplicate of Earth's atmosphere and biosphere is nearly impossible; the Terraforming Projects' staff are hoping for places where unmodified humans can live without wearing life-support suits.

The most likely candidate for terraforming efforts within 100 light years of Sol is Alice (Epsilon Indi A I), a wet-Mars analogue. Zarmina's World (Gliese 581 g) is a less-likely candidate for terraforming because of its high gravity. Gatewood (Lalande 21185 I) and Gallifrey (Tau Ceti II) are not candidates for terraforming – both planets already have native non-sapient life.

Consolidated Timeline of the Mars and Venus Terraforming Projects

Fall 2008

Mars Terraforming Project ("MTP") begins.

Dec 2008

Venus Terraforming Project ("VTP") 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

VTP charter signed, mainly because Venus is almost entirely Senshi run.

Port Phobos expansion reaches final stage.

Deimos formally becomes MTP home base.

Dec 2009

Port Phobos becomes busiest port in Fenspace.

Feb 2010

MTP 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.

First Crystal City is orbited around Venus, and initial deployment of biomodded bacteria to convert atmosphere is made.

May 2010

Magnetic field satellite trial finishes. Work started on next-generation versions.

July 2010

Carbon Dioxide farming begins in earnest on Venus.

Ultra High Resolution scans of Mars are completed.

Mining on Mercury begins.

Aug 2010

A downgraded and Handwavium-prohibited NASA (among others) begins chartering various Fen for scientific duties (most famously the crew of Ptichka), as do various documentary companies.

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.

Initial trinity of Crystal Cities completed (Tokyo, Paris, and Seattle).

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.

Thionite first encountered.

May 2011

Crystal Kyoto, last of the Crystal Cities, finishes outfitting and is deployed.

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.

Jan 9 2013

Crystal Osaka destroyed during anti-zwilnick activity.

June 2013

VTP deploys the first of its solar mirrors.

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.