"Green Mars" | |
---|---|
Short story by Kim Stanley Robinson | |
Country | USA |
Genre(s) | Science fiction |
Publication | |
Published in | Asimov's Science Fiction |
Publication type | Periodical |
Media type | |
Publication date | September 1985 |
"Green Mars" is a science fiction novella by the American writer Kim Stanley Robinson, first published in Asimov's Science Fiction in September 1985, eight years before his novel of the same name. [1]
The author later said that he wrote the story "mainly to stake a claim – at least a moral claim – on the name. I thought Green Mars was such a good name, such an obvious name." [2] The story describes an expedition climbing Olympus Mons on Mars. Although it is set in a slightly different fictional universe from that of the novel—it has characters which also appear in the author's short works "Exploring Fossil Canyon" (1982) and "A Martian Romance" (1999) [2] [3] — it is one of his first published works set in the landscape of the Mars trilogy. Much like a pilot episode, it introduces the plot premise and central ecological theme of the later series of novels.
That plot premise is that settlement and terraforming of Mars takes place over centuries, guided by pioneers whose lifespans are extended by biotechnology. The ecological theme develops as a struggle between interventionist "greens" who terraform and introduce wildlife on Mars, and conservationist "reds" who seek to preserve the ancient martian landscape unchanged.
At the time the story was written, the most recent missions to Mars were Viking 1 and Viking 2 which reached the planet in the summer of 1976.
The story, set on a terraformed Mars, describes, using the present tense, an expedition climbing Olympus Mons, "the tallest mountain in the solar system". It is seen from the viewpoint of Roger Clayborne, who has recently resigned after twenty-seven years as Minister of the Interior at Government House in Burroughs. He feels his political career has been futile. He thinks the planet could have been left as it was found, not turned into another Earth and made a laboratory for new animals and plants.
All but one of the group were born on Mars. The expedition leader is Eileen Monday. People can live for several hundred years, and she and Clayborne are both now about three hundred; she has forgotten their relationship, when they were in their twenties, but Clayborne, who has an unusually complete memory, can recall it. He talks to her of his regrets about the planet; she says his efforts with the Red Mars party would never have succeeded.
The height of Olympus Mons above the base is about 26 kilometres (16 mi). There is a vertical escarpment of about 20,000 feet (6,100 m), above which is the flank of the volcano crater with a gradient of about 6%. The details of mountaineering are described as the group ascends. Members take oxygen on the upper part of the ascent, and strong winds develop. During the climb, one person suffers a broken arm because of a falling rock, and is taken down by a few others; another suffers pulmonary edema because of ascending too rapidly, and is taken to a lower camp to ascend more slowly.
On the flank of the volcano, where they are above the atmosphere, they wear suits and helmets. It is about 250 kilometres (160 mi) from the escarpment to the rim of the crater, and they walk 25–30 kilometres (16–19 mi) a day, sleeping in a pressurized tent. By the end of the journey, Clayborne and Eileen Monday's relationship has revived, and he feels persuaded by her view of the planet.
"Green Mars" was placed third in the Locus Award for Best Novella in 1986. [4] It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novella, [1] and it was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novella in that year. [5]
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. Trends in the planet's portrayal have largely been influenced by advances in planetary science. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s, when it became clear that there was no life on the Moon. The predominant genre depicting Mars at the time was utopian fiction. Around the same time, the mistaken belief that there are canals on Mars emerged and made its way into fiction, popularized by Percival Lowell's speculations of an ancient civilization having constructed them. The War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells's novel about an alien invasion of Earth by sinister Martians, was published in 1897 and went on to have a major influence on the science fiction genre.
Olympus Mons is a large shield volcano on Mars. It is over 21.9 km high as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), about 2.5 times the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level. It is Mars's tallest volcano, its tallest planetary mountain, and is approximately tied with Rheasilvia on Vesta as the tallest mountain currently discovered in the Solar System. It is associated with the volcanic region of Tharsis Montes. It last erupted 25 million years ago.
The Mars trilogy is a series of science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two centuries. The events of the book span from 2026 to 2212, approximately more than 187 years. Ultimately more utopian than dystopian, the story focuses on egalitarian, sociological, and scientific advances made on Mars, while Earth suffers from overpopulation and ecological disaster.
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Areography, also known as the geography of Mars, is a subfield of planetary science that entails the delineation and characterization of regions on Mars. Areography is mainly focused on what is called physical geography on Earth; that is the distribution of physical features across Mars and their cartographic representations. In April 2023, The New York Times reported an updated global map of Mars based on images from the Hope spacecraft. A related, but much more detailed, global Mars map was released by NASA on 16 April 2023.
The Tharsis Montes are three large shield volcanoes in the Tharsis region of the planet Mars. From north to south, the volcanoes are Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons. Mons is the Latin word for mountain; it is a descriptor term used in astrogeology for mountainous features in the Solar System.
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