Mars: The Red Planet

This nickname, Mars gleaned during the many observations that could be made of it, and in the nineteenth century the discovery of "channels" giant on its surface, very straight, made her another inhabited planet. The myth of the little green men lasted until the Viking probe landed on its surface revealing its true nature, sandy, stony and icy, and of course with no apparent life. If scientists are so interested in March, it\'s because they had a disproportionate topography but indicated that water had once flowed there, a polar ice cap made of ice, a rotation of almost 24 hours, an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and the warmest temperatures of the solar system. This will lead the American astrophysicists, Carl Sagan in mind, to imagine a future colonization of this planet, a project that was even the subject of research, encrypted by NASA several trillion dollars at the time...

The credits which space research enjoyed in the early 2000s, went to the Alpha station, to the observation of space - especially the discovery of extrasolar planets - and towards the preparation of increasingly important missions to Mars of which the ultimate phase was the establishment of a permanent base on its soil. It was necessary to know Mars as well as the land to settle there. But for what purpose? - ... know her even better. In reality, there is no concrete plan for large-scale settlement - that is, colonization. At least you are theoretically talking about a "Terraforming"; the transformation of Mars into a breathable planet for humans, which would make access much easier. This "big white elephant" of NASA, was to positively "pollute" the atmosphere of the planet, for several centuries, reviving the oceans, creating a greenhouse effect, and reintroducing the bacterial life that could have been born there. millions of years ago, and then adapt organisms genetically adapted to its climate. Such an undertaking required exorbitant funds, and that is why, in the meantime, they were devoted to a very thorough study of the planet, and of atmospheric chemistry. For as a demiurge, the man could thus embark on such a disproportionate enterprise without solidly preparing the ground.

Thus, in 2011, the "Geniusia" was launched, the formidable colonization operation of Mars, preceded by a major computer simulation consisting in brewing the information gleaned from the red star, confronting them with the means put in place and the modeling of evolution of the atmospheric process, which mobilized several international teams of specialists and computer scientists on the three supercomputers available together for five years. The simulation was a half failure: Genesia lasted 400 years but ended in an unusually cold and nitrogen-filled atmosphere. Of course, life could develop there, but the man as such had a place only warmly dressed and wearing a gas mask. In 2014, simulation was restarted with new data. But the project failed several times to be buried because of two other titanic virtual sites in preparation, on earth, the transformation of the Sahara into an ocean, and the Baltic into new lands in order to respond to the growth of the population of the globe and the management problems of territories and resources.

Suspended until 2036, it was taken over at the initiative of a powerful industrial group that had planned to build the first "atmospheric processors" (name given to the very complex plants charged on March to transform the atmosphere) and said to have the bases of the construction of these. The virtual trial lasted three years and was successful, as the media of the time attest. It turned out later that the laboratories that had worked on the project had received very specific instructions, condemning them to success. Thus many factors were reduced or even eliminated at the time of need to guarantee a result... The survey will establish a few years later, confirming the revelations made by the head of one of the project teams, after his going to retire. The red planet was decidedly unlucky in the favors granted to it. The Genesia experiment was repeated one last time in 2041. At that time, shuttles were making the return trip to Mars in just six months thanks to their ionic propulsion and allowed to renew the teams of the first base, installed since 2028 after an intense preparation. For almost twenty years, the few original modules, with the increase of the frequency of the connections, became a great complex, a true base, extracting from Martian soil the most possible materials in order to be sufficient for its self-consumption, developing to build a vast glass roof, identical, in larger, to that manufactured in the desert of New Mexico for mission IV biosphere (2013-2016).

Also, the constant flights had no other goal than to pass the members of the mission, the animals, the plants, and some tons of freight, in particular everything that could not be manufactured on the spot. In 2036, the base, named "canyon gardens", since it was perched on the edge of the too famous valles marineris, overhanging cliffs of 2500 meters, and was perceived from very far thanks to the transparency of its canopy and green Dominating its fauna under a bell, sheltered for six months some seventeen people, and pushed very far the knowledge of the star. The base was spread over four "modules" of different shapes and sizes, the largest of which, the glass roof, was designed to house several fully recreated ecosystems controlled by six permanently specialized biologists. It was the oxygen plant at the same time as the team\'s pantry, whose other members managed the rest of the base, and explored the surroundings, conducting numerous drilling followed by analyzes. The spokesman for the 2041 mission stated during a press conference that the first phase of the Genesia project could be completed, that is to say to consider the construction of the first atmospheric processor in the five years that followed. By the end of 2042, the virtual terraformation of Mars had proved its relevance. We were, on the simulation, able to give to the red planet oceans in 570 years and a breathable atmosphere in 680 years. It was extremely long on a human scale and naturally reminded the builders of medieval cathedrals, who waited for several generations before seeing the work completed.

Thus, Mars would become the focus of the entire Earth population for nearly half a millennium. We tried the unthinkable, which made man a creature really apart. It must nevertheless be said that this was not done in a day and that it was necessary to find considerable funds, just for the permanent base, being in itself a tour de force when one thinks of the distances which separated Mars from the earth, and what made it an enterprise without common measure with the Apollo missions some fifty years earlier.

earth, and what made it an enterprise without common measure with the Apollo missions some fifty years earlier. So what about the sums claimed by the twenty processors, the bases to house their staff, the industries for their manufacture and the accommodation of those who would take care of the construction of the whole? -It is the European Space Agency who found the solution: The international space agencies would form a specific consortium, endowed by the states concerned, each year with a progressive envelope, the rest coming from investments, territories and resources of each, now perfectly determined. The very long-term investments were not particularly appreciated by the large private investors, however, it was they who won the contracts for the supply of equipment for Mars, controlled the distribution networks, and the new enthusiasm generated by the planet in 2043, put into action their titles of possession of territories. They did not have to regret it, because the credibility of the company only strengthened during the months, then the years that followed. Simple indication: Between 2041, the date of the first element of the first processor and the end of the operational phase of the last phase of Genesia, in 2605, the value of securities increased by 150%. But these huge combines were the owners of the planet, and with the mergers, acquisitions and other maneuvers, the number of owners increased from 46 to 8. The planet was thus divided into eight public and private states, dependent on the land legislation, around the XXVIIth century.

Meanwhile, the different phases of Genesia were conducted with more or less happiness, preceded and followed for seven centuries by simulations increasingly sophisticated, very useful, since as soon as an anomaly was detected, we could know how it could evolve and what impact it could have on the current phase in the long term. The chemically accelerated dosage of chemical elements avoided millions of years of natural evolution but was extremely delicate to control. The slightest mistake could be fatal to the whole process.

-The first phase consisted of building and commissioning atmospheric processors. These machines were not new: To counterbalance the effects of the increase in CO2 on land, the construction of giant filters, capable of replacing deforestation and sea pollution, had been envisaged, leading to the disappearance of plankton. These monumental machines looked like gigantic cooling towers, working like vacuum cleaners using high and low pressures, then passing air through many filters that fixed the CO2. The reprocessing capacity of the first built in 2030, with European funds, was 3500 cubic meters per second. Modest, it was nevertheless a very instructive first step.

The others followed with UN resolution 11675-245, giving a speech at the Shanghai Earth Conference two years later. They only interested the private sector for their construction, because they were only funded to meet a broad and intangible need to curb the degradation of air quality, there could be no economic spinoff profitable to society if only very indirect (the decline in health expenses related to allergies, for example.). Nevertheless the international community financed the installation of nearly 50 processors from 2119, when the improvement of the general conditions and some discoveries put an end to this "CO2 tracking". However, the experiment had been very profitable with regard to the Martian processors, which themselves were much more complex and of a much higher scale. Three big industrial groups shared this lucrative market: When the private proprietors no longer had a monopoly, the states were able to offer themselves portions of territories.

In 2130, the second in area belonged to the European federation. It was vast like Europe, precisely, and very logically received the name of "new Europe". The territories saw their prices attributed to their elevation above the lowest point of Mars, for the simple reason that the terraforming undertaken would have the effect of causing torrential rains, and transforming portions of territories into seas and oceans. The topography was therefore crucial, and the records accumulated during the twenties and thirties were worth gold.

Mars, however, was 45% smaller than land and future land was the subject of a fierce financial struggle; since it was intended to reproduce the earth pattern of 1 / 4-3 / 4 in favor of the ocean surfaces. Not knowing how far it would take to see a viable ecosystem, it was prudent to curb urbanism. Not knowing how far it would take to see a viable ecosystem, it was prudent to curb urbanism. In this context, the first conference on Mars, opened in Bern in 2060, provided that 1% of the land would be urbanized until the year 3000, or 361 750km (about the size of Germany.) . This was clearly enough to build the processors, industries, farms and housing - prefabricated, but insufficient for cities to eventually reach 10 million inhabitants and especially for agricultural areas, included in these areas. Also, it was planned to follow up this problem by resorting to the principles of the new architecture, as stated by the Vienna Charter, in 2047.

-The first phase of Genesia saw the construction of a huge orbital station, which in 2280 would reach about 56,000 cubic meters for 23,560 astronauts. Her role was to transit all the material coming from the ground and the teams coming from her or going towards her, as well as to build the trans-atmospheric ships charged to amarsir with their cargo on the tracks of canyon gardens, whose the extension was spectacular, with the largest concentration of glass roofs seen so far: 355 000mÝ. Most of them served as multi-storied agropod crops, others as pastures, providing the 550,000 "Martians" of recent times with relative food autonomy, and a semblance of a terrestrial landscape. Nevertheless, the Martians returned to the fold every six months.

Nevertheless, the Martians returned to the fold every six months. Genuine natives were therefore exceptions. This will not be constant: from the beginning of the XXII century, most of the 140 processors were finished and were in use. Engineers, diggers, were assigned to other work: Construction of large sub-surface underground infrastructure, intended to exploit future aquaculture farms, fisheries, power plants using the power of future marine currents, among others, as well as construction on future land emerged, hard, to house the staff of processors and industries in better conditions. But Mars was short of arms. The space agencies, which organized the heavy recruitment of those sent to them, had to quickly relax their selection criteria and open up to less qualified and more common candidates. Thus, we can speak of a beginning of immigration, whose settlers, more busy, motivated or less well-off stayed longer on the spot and engendered the first population of natives, the only true Martians.

-La phase 2 de Genesia commença en 2065, date de mise en service des 12 processeurs de la seconde tranche. Les autres vagues suivirent au cours de la fin du siècle, jusqu\'en 2110. Leurs effets furent lents en apparence: Le ciel Martien ne commença à s\'assombrir et se réchauffer qu\'au XXIVème siècle. Aussi, pendant ce temps, la planète rouge ne changea que par la présence de ses fourmis humaines, fort occupées à se développer autour des Processeurs et des industries. Alimentés par la lumière solaire, les cultures sous verrières fournissaient presque sans énergie les produits souhaités. De même, des équipes de biologistes travaillaient sur l\'implantation d\'organismes au patrimoine génétique totalement remanié afin de s\'accommoder des rudes conditions biosphériques Martiennes: Le froid extrême, l\' absence totale de certains éléments chimiques dans le sol et l\'air, et le manque de pression. Ils réussirent leur pari, après des dizaines d\'années infructueuses, et implantèrent le premier OGM viable, un organisme vivant véritablement extra-terrestre, car il n\'aurait absolument pas pu survivre sur terre. Comme les organismes de cette dernière, en revanche, elles ne remplissaient leur fonction de petites usines à oxygène que grâce à la photosynthèse, et celle ci ne commencera à faire défaut qu\'au cours du XXVème siècle.

Phase 2 will continue for 200 years, and the sky of Mars darkens rather quickly. In 2116, the first rain was recorded, and others followed, somewhat ahead of schedule. But we note that the first real showers, from the sixties of the XXII century brought this element which had carved the deserts Martians once, and which seemed to have awakened the red star. At the beginning of the second half of the century, the sky became almost black, and the rains intensified. The long Martian night was about to begin ... The Martians had had time to prepare for it: Bulbs of light bulbs and allogens were installed under the windows, so light was to be scarce.



Buildings tentatively located in old river beds were cautiously relocated, while teams rushed to complete the final waterproofing of over 17 large underwater bases, built to future needs-dry construction was three times cheaper . After 2170, the sky was so dense that it caused almost total darkness from north to south and whatever the season, so that the biological rhythms were affected enough so that the Martians left en masse a planet for which they totally invested themselves. But it is the highest graduates, the well-off, who left this world.

Paradoxically, the Martian population, which had passed the 900,000 mark in 2200, continued to increase with considerable economic immigration. Laborable to thank you, they worked for the descendants of those who had been the beneficiaries of the opening of the recruitments, who were authentic native Martians, and who had never gone to earth otherwise than virtually, because to get on the social ladder, they gave up this trip, for financial reasons first, and then because their disheveled work never gave them time. The latter finally left to enjoy the blue planet, tasting a highly deserved retirement and for the most part did not leave again. Mars, in the XXIII century, was not an attractive star, far from it.


World of the night, one worked there 24 hours on 24, precisely because of any absence of chronological landmarks, often in bad conditions. We must pause for a moment and imagine what the life of the proletariat could be at that time: The workers of the extraction, of the building, were building for a black world, breathing badly in old oxygen masks, sweating beyond the endurable in their combinations conceived a century earlier for the few outings of engineers, struggling in a tenacious mud formed by the famous red sand Martian, now as black as the rest, under a rain that blurred the vision and invaded everything, making the ground an immense channel, carrying in sudden flows of mud, men and equipment. The ungraded paid a heavy price to the comfort of future generations, who in the third phase saw a world conceived admirably in appalling conditions.

Despite this little attraction of Mars, immigration was considerable. With the end of the last selection requirements, it was millions of poor landowners who joined this dark rainy hell, to find work and wealth, which were not lacking. Mars of all this period is the exact portrait of nineteenth century America, with unlike the other beautiful landscapes and natural resources.

-When the third phase began, during the XXVth century, the Martian population had crossed the milestone of twenty million. One could say a lot about the incredible adventure that had been going on here, patiently, painstakingly, painfully often through the centuries, giving birth to a new world so beautiful that the earth was almost jealous of it. Like the most beautiful metaphor, the sky began imperceptibly to be less black. The first clearings, although ephemeral, began to reveal to the world a new star, Mars the red metamorphosed out of its chrysalis.


The third phase was a sort of exit from the tunnel: it was a question of stopping one by one the processors, besides very used by an almost constant operation, transformed many times in order to improve their performances, and to use those - in order to monitor the good behavior of the atmospheric balance that was going to be put in place for eternity. Mars woke up covered with oceans and seas, populated by a transgenic plankton, already covered with thick forests, with cautious adaptations of a fauna coming from the cold lands of the earth. Because the truth about the Martian character, released for 50 years on supercomputers was going to be revealed to its inhabitants and the worried earthlings.

The balance was to give the red star a climate both temperate and continental, quite fresh, and make Mars a kind of great "canada" .The final temperatures indeed, reminded the optimists who had hidden, that this little sister of the earth was devilishly far from the sun; and thus the maximum temperatures expected in summer at the equator, were to remain below 25 °, while the minimum recorded in the northern hemisphere, were around -70 °. Mars, despite the purple of its mountains and canyons, would be an "invigorating" destination. As for Phobos and Deimos, his sons in battle according to mythology, they were two small asteroids, 18 by 22 Km for Phobos and 10 by 12 Km for Deimos, the latter being much more distant. They served as advanced base and the first will be completely hollowed out in 2168-70 to receive an arsenal, warehouses and a construction site, new economic technique to do without space station.