Mars Terraforming Project

Mars image 02 from The Expanse — A ship over Mars, with the Martian moon of Phobos on the right. Note, the new, and thicker atmosphere of Mars.

The Mars Terraforming Project is a world spanning project to terraform Mars to give it a habitable atmosphere in which humans live and breathe. This endeavour would take well over one hundred years and the original inhabitants of Mars would not live long enough to see it completed.

History[]

Considered by some the greatest engineering project in human history, the terraforming project is a driving force of Martian society, involving most of the population of Mars either directly or indirectly. However, it is implied that the project is in decline, due to younger generations of Martians becoming accustomed to living in domed settlements.

“Catching fire” — Spoilers for Nemesis Games follow.

The project lost its priority status with the discovery of the ring network. Why go through all the hard work terraform Mars when there are hundreds of habitable worlds that already exist? The "gold rush" to claim new planets led to a significant portion of the Martian population leaving Mars removing a large amount of the planet's tax base and labor force.

“An old enemy returns” — Spoilers for Persepolis Rising follow.

The Martian culture of extreme efficiency that came from the terraforming project would eventually become the basis of the Laconian Empire.

“You can't go home” — Spoilers for "Season 2" follow.

Due to the Martian Congressional Republic's need to maintain a large military against Earth the project was pushed back for generations with resources diverted to the arms industry.

“A new world” — Spoilers for "Season 4" follow.

Over a year after the slow zone incident the project had advanced to the state where the planet had been given a magnetosphere allowing it to have an aurora borealis ^[1].