Mars

{{Sidebar planet | Name=Mars | AffiliationImage=Unaligned.jpg | Class=K | Affiliation=unaligned | Location=Sol system | Sector=001 | Quadrant=Alpha/Beta | World Status=Non-Resource | Distance= 1.524 | Orbit= 4 | Orbital Zone= Green | Orbital Duration= 1.88 years (687 days) | Rotation Duration= 24.62 | Atmospheric Density= Very thin | Gravity= 0.38 | Diameter= 6,779 | Surface Area= 144,800,000 | Water Area= 30 | Landmasses= Predominantly land covered | Tectonic Activity= light | Volcanic Activity= none | Satellites= 2 | Dominant Lifeform= n/a | Lifeform Sentience= No | Sentient Species= | Tech Level= | Society Type= | Global Population= | Population Capacity= |}

Astronomical Data

Names

• Sol IV
• Mars
• Angaraka
• Areos aster
• Bahram
• Horus
• Mangala
• Ma'adim
• Merih
• al-Mirrikh
• Nergal
• Pyroeis
• Sakit
• Stella Martis

Satellites

Natural

• Phobos
• Deimos

Artificial

None

History

Mars is named after the Roman god of war. In Babylonian astronomy, the planet was named after Nergal, their deity of fire, war, and destruction, most likely due to the planet's reddish appearance. When the Greeks equated Nergal with their god of war, Ares, they named the planet Ἄρεως ἀστἡρ (Areos aster), or "star of Ares". Then, following the identification of Ares and Mars, it was translated into Latin as stella Martis, or "star of Mars", or simply Mars. The Greeks also called the planet Πυρόεις Pyroeis meaning "fiery". In Hindu mythology, Mars is known as Mangala (मंगल). The planet is also called Angaraka in Sanskrit, after the celibate god of war, who possesses the signs of Aries and Scorpio, and teaches the occult sciences. The planet was known by the Egyptians as "Ḥr Dšr" or "Horus the Red". The Hebrews named it Ma'adim (מאדים)—"the one who blushes"; this is where one of the largest canyons on Mars, the Ma'adim Vallis, gets its name. It is known as al-Mirrikh in both Arabic and Persian, and Merih in Turkish. The etymology of al-Mirrikh is unknown. Ancient Persians named it Bahram, the Zoroastrian god of faith. Ancient Turks called it Sakit. The Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese cultures refer to the planet as the fire star, a name based on the ancient Chinese mythological cycle of Five elements.

• 1993: The Great Khanate successfully lands a man on Mars for the first time.

• 1996: The Great Khanate's Mars colony fails.

• 2030: The Ares I is Earth's first manned mission back to Mars, since the fall of the Great Khanate.

• 2032 (October 19): The Ares IV mission to Mars fails when the command capsule disappears, stranding two astronauts on the surface. The Ares V launches early to perform the rescue of the stranded Ares IV astronauts.

• 2062 (May 13): Mars declares independence from Earth, which is peacefully accepted.

Important Locations

• Hellas Planitia: By 2238, M/AM reactors are constructed here.