2500 AD Mars has been terraformed

[zadak]

By the middle of this millenium, the Red Planet has been turned from a cold, dead world into a lush, Eden-like paradise. This monumental achievement was the result of human collaboration on a planet-wide scale. It created whole new industries and undreamed of technologies.

The project was initiated in the early 22nd century. From the outset, it faced major hurdles. Aside from the sheer scale of geo-engineering an entire world, there were political, social and cultural issues too. Many of the early settlers on Mars actually wished for it to remain in its raw, primeval state. Some had an almost spiritual connection to the place. Like certain environments on Earth, they believed it held an intrinsic worth and unique value that should never be replaced. To better it with manmade artificial processes would somehow make it less natural, less real.

These "Reds", as they came to be known, were a potent force during the early Martian government.* They were a thorn in the side of planning authorities, who faced not only protests and demonstrations, but direct sabotaging of industrial activity from some of the more extreme individuals.

On the opposing side of this debate were the "Greens", initially consisting of mostly corporate interests. They included a greater proportion of cyborgs and transhumans, who became adapted to the environment of Mars at an earlier stage and were thus able to survive in the lower air pressures.

Over time, the power and influence of the Greens began to dominate. Improved security measures were introduced, guarding much of the infrastructure and terraforming equipment from attack. Giant solar mirrors were placed in orbit. Measuring tens of kilometres across, these reflected and focussed the Sun's rays onto the poles.

Other projects included the seeding of artificial extremophile bacteria. These began converting CO2 into oxygen. Vast swarms of nanobots were later introduced, accelerating this process and offering a greater degree of control, since they were fully programmable. They also helped to produce nitrogen, as well as regulating the overall composition of the atmosphere.

A series of enormous "heat factories" were constructed. These belched out huge amounts of CO2 – much of it imported from Venus – which was converted by the bacteria and nanobots. This also had the effect of raising air pressure.

To increase the volume of water on Mars, comets and ice-rich asteroids were manoeuvred into orbit. These were made to slowly burn up as they descended, without impacting on the ground and causing damage.

This still left the problem of Mars' lack of a magnetosphere, which exposed the surface to harsh ultraviolet radiation. Giant superconducting rings were placed around the latitude lines - focussed mainly on the equator - and buried deep below ground. These were thousands of miles in length and took many decades to construct, but were sufficient to create an artificial magnetic field.

By the 23rd century, frozen lakes and ponds were beginning to form in some regions. This was followed by successful growing of the first lichen and mosses, genetically adapted to withstand a harsher environment. Entire seas and oceans began to appear in the 24th century, along with the first trees and other flora, plus certain arthropods and insects.

A series of chain reactions and positive feedback loops began to accelerate the process, fueled by even greater technological advancements. By the 2400s, a panoply of animals were being introduced including fish, birds, reptiles and mammals. Eventually, it was declared safe for unaided, fully biological humans to walk on the surface of Mars. Humanity had created a second Earth.

[froggy]

Zadak, one day you will have more posts than me and Alex combined... and that is troublesome because I'm afraid poker-botting topics will be buried under your content forever... and people will be very confused ... like twilight zone confused ... btw, openholdem is not A.I. there is no machine-learning involved. Just wanted to tell you in case you were expecting your bot to play differently over time...

[zadak]

Then you could delete some of the topics I posted I guess can keep the very important ones I won’t be on here forever unless I’m not married or single