Mars

"Time on Mars tends to give a man... perspective."

- Edward Buck, referring to Taylor H. Miles.

Mars, known as Edom in the Forerunner era, is the fourth planet of the Sol system, and one of four terrestrial worlds. Orbital and land-based shipyards on Mars have remained the primary shipyards utilized by the UNSC Navy.

Forerunner era
Circa 100,000 BCE, ten thousand years after the human-Forerunner wars, Forerunner Miners worked on Mars. Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting was sent to work into a step family of Miners as punishment for his rebellious ways. Inspired by his ancilla's tales of Precursor treasure, Bornstellar eventually escaped and made his way to Earth aboard an automated transport. During his stay on Mars, Bornstellar climbed the planet's highest volcano, Olympus Mons.

Following the firing of the Halo Array, an automated Juridical listening post remained hidden on Mars for over a hundred millennia.

Human colonization
Mars was among the first worlds colonized by humanity in the first wave of interplanetary colonization circa 2080. Following its colonization—largely driven by corporations eager to break free from the restrictions of Earth's gravity and international law—Mars quickly became a hub of industry and state-of-the-art scientific research. Advancements were made particularly in the areas of nano- and biotechnologies; largely robotics-driven industrial manufacturing and spacecraft construction flourished, the latter most notably in the Argyre Planitia. With the advances in terraforming technology that accompanied this boom of technological development, Mars was transformed into a planet with near-Earth conditions, becoming home to many.

Interplanetary War
Mars was the site of a decisive battle during the events surrounding the formation of the United Nations Space Command. The Koslovics attempted to seize control of the shipbuilding plants in the Argyre Planitia, but were repelled by a series of blitzkrieg attacks by the newly-organized UNSC Marines in a series of brutal battles in 2163. This victory marked a significant boost in the morale of the United Nations forces, and the nascent UNSC subsequently moved on to destroy the Koslovic and Frieden movements throughout the Solar System.

Human-Covenant War


On January 18, 2524, a telescope located on or orbiting Mars spotted an anomalous, evidently artificial object while observing the stellar cluster NGC 2244; while unknown to humans at the time, this was actually the Covenant planetoid station High Charity.

On April 2, 2526, UNSC forces working with ONI agents prevented an attack on New Harmony. Two Insurrectionists, Christina Rice and James McCann, were disguised as Army specialists and were stealing nuclear weapons for a possible attack.

Once again, Mars was the site of a large scale engagement called the Battle of Mare Erythraeum, set on the fields of Mare Erythraeum. There, Colonel James Ackerson and his UNSC Army forces combated against Covenant ground forces, commanded by Jiralhanae Chieftain Lepidus. The UNSC lost the battle and Ackerson was taken prisoner. While the UNSC resistance was crushed, the human population centers on Mars survived the Covenant assault relatively intact.

On November 18, 2552, at 15:45 pm, High Charity arrived near Mars and made a Slipspace jump to Installation 00. This event was recorded by the local Juridical terminal.

Locations

 * Acidalia
 * Katagalugan
 * New Legaspi
 * New Manila
 * Syrtis Major aerospace port
 * New Harmony
 * New Paris
 * Paris Island
 * Tanais
 * Kenosha
 * Ganymede
 * Argyre Planitia
 * Mare Erythraeum
 * Tricode Village
 * Seven Hills
 * Losantiville
 * Acheron Fossae
 * Gdynia
 * Olympus Highlands
 * Eos Chasma
 * Misriah Armory

Orbital installations

 * Chiron
 * Chiron TL-34
 * Reyes-McLees Shipyards

Notable residents

 * Nicole-458
 * Petra Janecek
 * Thomas Lasky
 * Taylor Miles
 * Michael Horrigan
 * Gregory Aio Ramos

Trivia

 * Terraforming has transformed the surface of Mars from a former barren and uninhabitable environment into an Earth-like world, despite its still having a red-orange color when seen from space in Halo: Uprising. The Halo Encyclopedia contradicts this, saying that Mars is now "as blue and green as Earth."
 * In Halo: Arms Race, the sun is erroneously depicted as several times larger than it appears from Earth. The sun would actually appear far smaller when viewed from Mars.
 * In an interview with Dr. Robert McLees, a Marine suggested that Olympus Mons on Mars has been made suitable for snowboarding.
 * Edom is the Hebrew word for Red, and the name of an ancient Semitic Kingdom.
 * One of Mars' moons, Phobos, is the location of a penal colony.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: Landfall
 * Halo: Arms Race
 * Halo: Uprising
 * Halo: Reach
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal
 * Halo: Cryptum
 * Halo: Glasslands
 * Halo: Escalation
 * Halo: Nightfall
 * Halo: New Blood