Mars

Role: Major Sol Colony | Resource Mining World
Circumference: 13,263 Miles
Population: Speculation: Tens of Hundreds of millions
Orbital Path: Fourth
Rotational Period (days): 1.025
Orbital Period (days): 687
Primary Function: Resource Mining | Major Colony
Retention Index: 3

Martian Culture has been described to be essentially identical to that of all of Sol's major colonies, including Earth it self. As one of the Federation's oldest colonies, beaten in age only by Luna Base, Martian culture is deeply tied with Earth's culture, and indeed with the culture of the Federation as a whole. Though it's roots stem from initially being a resource mining oriented planet, it has since grown into an expansive and varied colony filled with modern architecture and bold monuments to science.

In modern day, Mars holds many corporations and in particular holds many Office buildings, serving as an administrative center for many of the largest and oldest corporations spanning Federation space.

Most of the remaining resource mining has turned almost fully automated on a grand scale. As such, Martians who enlist are oft from families that have ties to the corporate world or families who work with the complex automated machinery, and are prime targets for all branches of Fleet or Engineers.

Mars also hosts a number of tourist attractions, primarily aimed at luxury tourism. One such example would be the hotel 'Iris' located at the cliff edge of Olympus Mons, distantly overlooking the whole city of Ares. Located so high above sealevel, several times the height of Mount Everest on Earth in fact, the atmosphere is far too thin to breathe and so the hotel is airtight and has constant air supply in form of tubes built into the cliff face leading down, as well as compressors capable of maintaining emergency pressure in case of pump failures. The hotel offers breathtaking views from it's suites and several experiences aimed at recreating the first explorers to set foot on Mars, proving a popular, though expensive, retreat visited by wealthy residents from across Federation space.

History

The first permanent colony on Mars; Olympus Base, was established in 2190, a mere eight years following the establishment of Luna Base on Earth's Moon. Mars had in many aspects proven to be as fruitful as the Federation had hoped, providing vast amounts of material resources with which to expand the Federation's infrastructure, as well as posing as an important stop-over point for the then sub-light only Federation space vessels. Shortly following the permanent establishment of Olympus Base, the Federation commissioned the construction of a permanent orbital base positioned between Mars' two moons; Phobos and Deimos. This orbital base was christened Crimson Base, and acted as an important fuel and repair depot for the Federation's vessels, as well as functioning as an important final line of defense for Earth, should the need ever arise.

Only in one aspect did Mars disappoint. No local fauna or flora was found, and thus Mars was unable to provide food for even itself, let alone act as a Breadbasket for the Sol system, something the pre-FTL Federation was desperately seeking with an ever-increasing demand for food that became ever harder to meet.

Across it's history as a permanent colony, Mars has procedurally been terraformed to hold an atmosphere that closely resembles that of Earth's, providing a breathable atmosphere across the planet's surface. Whilst it's underground water resevoirs and the by now nearly completely melted ice caps provide sufficient water to maintain most of it's human colonies, Mars' water deposits simply do not provide enough water to sustain any significant amount of agriculture, and as such, Mars is largely dependent on supply networks to feed it's population. Doubly so, Mars' soil has proven difficult and costly to cultivate and so most agricultural projects have ceased, opting instead to rely on other sources such as the moon Europa for food and to bolster it's water supply to provide a reliable water source for all it's residents.

Mars has since grown into one of the largest Federation colonies, spread across the whole surface of Mars. It's Capital, Ares, was built out from Olympus Base, and now spans a large chunk of the base around Mars' largest mountain, Olympus Mons.


Economy

Mars' Economy is a strong economy centered primarily around high-density office zones and high-tech technology development and export. It also has a sizable export of raw materials to this day, owing back to it's roots as a resource mining colony.

Luxury business also plays an important role for the Martian economy, providing the many high-paid jobs present on Mars with retreats and services to cater to the high class needs. Everything from high-end coffee and drinks shops to once-in-a-lifetime luxury experiences, private planet-wide fast transportation options to unique luxury 'floating hotels' in the sky, Mars offers every successful entrepreneur everything they could ever want and more, rivaled only by dedicated colonies such as Zegema Beach.



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