History UsefulNotes / MARS

The most damaging is that Mars has a core that's dead, with very little tectonic activity,[[note]][=InSight=]'s SEIS seismometer has picked [[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-0544-y almost 200]] weak marsquakes until September 2019[[/note]] so there's no magnetic field to keep the solar wind from keeping the planet more or less sterile. Although science holds out hope that they will [[OnceGreenMars one day discover evidence that life once existed on Mars]], there's very little hope they will find life living there now.[[note]]This might seem like a problem for colonization, but isn't really; building largely underground — as most serious proposals call for — handles the radiation problem pretty handily. Many current proposals for colonization indicate that lava tubes — basically big caves where ancient lava had flowed underground and then shrank as it cooled, leaving a big empty tunnel — would be a good spot to settle.[[/note]] Worse than that, the Martian soil is now known to be extremely rich in hexavalent chromium (known for short as [=HexChrome=]), one of the most potent carcinogens known to man. Today, the moons [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfJupiter Europa]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfSaturn Enceladus]] are considered more likely to currently harbor life, both having verified subterranean liquid water and the protection of their respective home planets' magnetic fields. (Europa's surface ice is also a protective barrier from Jupiter's latent radiation.) While in 2015 it was finally verified that there is indeed liquid water on the surface of Mars, the lack of a magnetic field and toxic soil would still be severe obstacles to life. However, despite the odds, there is a chance extremophiles live inside Mars, after all life has been found to thrive inside of otherwise lethal conditions such as tar pits, geothermal pools, and on the bottom of the ocean in geothermal vents.

* ''Webcomic/MareInternum'' takes place during the early days of Mars's colonization, with [[MohsScaleOfScifiHardness pretty hard science]] and a pretty realistic view of Mars. [[spoiler: Then life and the survivors of an ancient advanced civilization are discovered beneath the surface.]]

Mars regained its prominence in human imagination in 1976 when the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_1 Viking 1]] probe reached the planet; equipped with more advanced technology, it was able to take a number of impressively high resolution photographs. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cydonia_%28region_of_Mars%29 One of these showed]] [[ItKindOfLooksLikeAFace what appears to be a human face]]. Though quickly debunked by every legitimate authority, it has taken its place alongside the Nazca lines and the Pyramids of Giza in conspiracy lore — especially as one of the photographs from the mission ''[[RevealingCoverup has yet to be declassified]]''. Fictional representations of Mars were changed as well; no longer a destination, but a stepping-stone to greater glories in the form of ancient ruins filled with LostTechnology, waiting for humanity to discover it and thereby leapfrog into the stars. One way or another, that [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment particular argument will remain unsettled]] until [[IWantMyJetpack people actually go there unregulated]].

Although these moons both orbit the planet in the same direction, Phobos is close by and orbits ''faster'' than Mars rotates, while Deimos is farther away and orbits slightly ''slower'' than Mars rotates. Phobos rises in the west, sets in the east, and rises again in the west 11 hours later. Deimos rises in the east, sets in the west 2.7 [Earth] days later, and rises in the East again 2.7 days after that. What this essentially means is that at some point Deimos is going to fling itself into space ([[DeathFromAbove hopefully not in our direction]]), while Phobos, held together only by its own gravity, is going to disintegrate when tidal forces break it apart as it gets too close.

Mars has two moons, called Phobos and Deimos. They were discovered in 1877, later than all the major moons of all the outer planets, and are named after two figures from Greek mythology,[[note]]sons of Ares (the Greek counterpart of Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus),[[/note]] they are both extremely small; Phobos, the larger of the two, is only ten miles across, and Deimos is half that. Their surface gravity, such as it is, can be measured in micro-''g''. They're really not much more than irregular rocks, asteroids that were captured by Mars' gravity.[[note]]Possibly. Their orbits are rather unusual for captured asteroids, since they each have a near-circular rather than elliptical path and each orbits at relatively low altitude. As such they might be products of a debris field from the hypothesized giant impact on Mars' north hemisphere.[[/note]] Irregular rocks [[BilingualBonus named]] ''[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Fear]]'' and ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Panic]]''.

Mars has two moons, called Phobos and Deimos. Named after two figures from Greek mythology,[[note]]sons of Ares (the Greek counterpart of Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus),[[/note]] they are both extremely small; Phobos, the larger of the two, is only ten miles across, and Deimos is half that. Their surface gravity, such as it is, can be measured in micro-''g''. They're really not much more than irregular rocks, asteroids that were captured by Mars' gravity.[[note]]Possibly. Their orbits are rather unusual for captured asteroids, since they each have a near-circular rather than elliptical path and each orbits at relatively low altitude. As such they might be products of a debris field from the hypothesized giant impact on Mars' north hemisphere.[[/note]] Irregular rocks [[BilingualBonus named]] ''[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Fear]]'' and ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Panic]]''.

* ''[[http://mars.takeonthegame.com/ Take On Mars]]'' allows gamers to explore Mars based on completely up to date data. They can also explore with the current probes like Curiosity, or [[CrazyAwesome drive around in a weaponized SUV]].

** After the first human (Phillip J. Fry the second) set foot on it in the twenty-first century, Mars has been terraformed, first in order to facilitate the construction of Mars University, then later by farmers and ranchers. There are also jungles, which feature birds, monkeys, tigers and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers elephants]], in lieu of the ones on Earth being long gone. And there's the massive gambling city Mars Vegas. In a [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Radariffic note]], Mars' foliage also contains a great many marijuana plants.

* In ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'', we get to see snapshots of Mars over the centuries of human space exploration, although the planet is far from the main focus of the series. In the first novel, the human presence on Mars consists of a single station manned by a dozen people at most as well as the base for Earth's Second Fleet. Over the next several centuries, thanks to the [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum reverse-engineering of Faata technology]], space travel gets easier, and large-scale settlement becomes an option. Despite humanity obtaining FTL capability and discovering a number of habitable extrasolar planets, Mars is still seen as a viable site for terraforming. However, it's stated that part of the reason is because it serves as a proving ground for experimental terraforming techniques that are later employed on other arid worlds (of which there are a lot more than Earth-like planets). By the fifth novel, taking place two and a half centuries later, Mars has a sizable population, the largest in the Solar System besides Earth's, and the air is breathable, if a little rarefied. There is even a small ocean, several seas, and a number of rivers. The heat and light are maintained via the use of artificial "suns" in orbit, which appear to be large solar reflectors. Several areas are designated as preserves and still feature the native Martian landscapes, although it's not uncommon to see a highway going through one (despite most Martians preferring to use FlyingCars for transportation).

Mars has two moons, called Phobos and Deimos. Named after two figures from Greek mythology[[note]] sons of Ares (the Greek counterpart of Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus)[[/note]], they are both extremely small; Phobos, the larger of the two, is only ten miles across, and Deimos is half that. Their surface gravity, such as it is, can be measured in micro-''g''. They're really not much more than irregular rocks, asteroids that were captured by Mars' gravity.[[note]]Possibly. Their orbits are rather unusual for captured asteroids, since they each have a near-circular rather than elliptical path and each orbits at relatively low altitude. As such they might be products of a debris field from the hypothesized giant impact on Mars' north hemisphere.[[/note]] Irregular rocks [[BilingualBonus named]] ''[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Fear]]'' and ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Panic]]''.

The most damaging is that Mars has a core that's dead, with very little tectonic activity[[note]][=InSight=]'s SEIS seismometer has picked [[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-0544-y almost 200]] weak marsquakes until September 2019[[/note]], so there's no magnetic field to keep the solar wind from keeping the planet more or less sterile. Although science holds out hope that they will [[OnceGreenMars one day discover evidence that life once existed on Mars]], there's very little hope they will find life living there now.[[note]]This might seem like a problem for colonization, but isn't really; building largely underground — as most serious proposals call for — handles the radiation problem pretty handily. Many current proposals for colonization indicate that lava tubes — basically big caves where ancient lava had flowed underground and then shrank as it cooled, leaving a big empty tunnel — would be a good spot to settle.[[/note]] Worse than that, the Martian soil is now known to be extremely rich in hexavalent chromium (known for short as [=HexChrome=]), one of the most potent carcinogens known to man. Today, the moons [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfJupiter Europa]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfSaturn Enceladus]] are considered more likely to currently harbor life, both having verified subterranean liquid water and the protection of their respective home planets' magnetic fields. (Europa's surface ice is also a protective barrier from Jupiter's latent radiation.) While in 2015 it was finally verified that there is indeed liquid water on the surface of Mars, the lack of a magnetic field and toxic soil would still be severe obstacles to life. However, despite the odds, there is a chance extremophiles live inside Mars, after all life has been found to thrive inside of otherwise lethal conditions such as tar pits, geothermal pools, and on the bottom of the ocean in geothermal vents.

* Whenever asked, Chao Lingshen of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' would claim that she was from Mars. Thanks to events in chapter 257, [[spoiler:this no longer seems so random with the confirmation of [[MagicWorld Mundus Magicus]] being located on Mars itself]].

In the late 19th century, astronomer Giovanni Schiapparelli [[note]]Uncle to the surrealist couturier UsefulNotes/ElsaSchiapparelli[[/note]] observed what appeared to be water channels on Mars. When his writings were translated into English, the Italian word ''canali'' was misleadingly translated as canals (the actual Italian word for "canals" is "canal''e''", with an "e"). For decades afterwards, it was widely believed that these had been built by intelligent aliens. Predictably, Martians featured in a large amount of ScienceFiction of the first half of the 20th century.

In the late 19th century, astronomer Giovanni Schiapparelli [[note]]Uncle to the surrealist couturier Elsa Schiapparelli[[/note]] observed what appeared to be water channels on Mars. When his writings were translated into English, the Italian word ''canali'' was misleadingly translated as canals (the actual Italian word for "canals" is "canal''e''", with an "e"). For decades afterwards, it was widely believed that these had been built by intelligent aliens. Predictably, Martians featured in a large amount of ScienceFiction of the first half of the 20th century.

* Rotational Period: 24 Hours

In the late 19th century, astronomer Giovanni Schiapparelli [[note]]Uncle to the surrealist couturier Elsa Schiapparelli[[/note]] observed what appeared to be water channels on Mars. When his writings were translated into English, the Italian word ''canali'' was misleadingly translated as canals. For decades afterwards, it was widely believed that these had been built by intelligent aliens. Predictably, Martians featured in a large amount of ScienceFiction of the first half of the 20th century.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NeQ1h6lzLI&t=0m57s Dun-dun-dun-dun,]] [[Music/GustavHolst dun, dun-dun-dun]]]]

-->-- [=SpaceX=] Elon Musk

* In the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise, Mars has been colonized by Earth, with the most prominent example being Utopia Planitia. (ExpandedUniverse works include other colonies, like Bradbury City.) Mars also has extensive starship construction facilities in orbit, which built the starships ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Enterprise-D]]'', ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Defiant]]'', and ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]''. ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' established a {{Terraform}}ing project in the 22nd century, which as of 2155 has thickened the air enough to make pressurized space suits unnecessary (though oxygen and heating gear is still needed).

* Many events in [[spoiler:the past]], [[spoiler:present]] and [[spoiler:future]] of Manga/{{Gunnm}} happen on Mars.

* The God of War, Franchise/WonderWoman's enemy, used to have his base here, generally because the two shared a name. The idea was lost after ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', where he got renamed Ares, his Greek counterpart.

* Density: 3.9335 g/cm3

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mars_Planet_7906.jpg]]