Mars

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

- Edward Buck, referring to Taylor H. Miles.

Mars, also known as Sol IV, known as Edom in the Forerunner era, is the fourth planet of the Sol system, and one of four terrestrial worlds. One of the first human interplanetary colonies, Mars is a major industrial center and one of the largest in the Sol system. Mars is home to the UNSC Navy's primary shipyards and the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers' headquarters in the city of Kenosha, Tanais.

Topography
Terraforming has transformed the surface of Mars from a former barren and uninhabitable environment into an Earth-like world. This process took centuries.

Locations

 * Acheron Fossae
 * Gdynia
 * Acidalia
 * Argyre Planitia
 * Eos Chasma
 * Shoreline
 * Misriah Munitions Training Range
 * First Mars Technical
 * Ganymede
 * Katagalugan
 * New Legaspi
 * New Manila
 * Killingham Street
 * Lake Komeno
 * Mare Erythraeum
 * Tricode Village
 * Mount Sharp
 * New Harmony
 * New Paris
 * Paris Island
 * Oenotria
 * Olympus Highlands
 * Oros Trading Company Headquarters
 * Seven Hills
 * Losantiville
 * Syrtis Major aerospace port
 * Tanais
 * Kenosha
 * Terra Cimmeria
 * Valles Marineris
 * Wesley General Hospital
 * Martian Elementary Education Complex

Forerunner locations

 * Edom Terminal\Juridical

Orbital installations

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

Forerunner

 * Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting

Human

 * Petra Janecek - Journalist
 * Lasky family
 * Thomas Lasky - UNSC Navy Captain
 * Cadmon Lasky - Orbital Drop Shock Trooper
 * Ridge - Orbital Drop Shock Trooper
 * Taylor Miles - Orbital Drop Shock Trooper
 * Michael Horrigan - ONI Section Three agent
 * Gregory Aio Ramos - ONI Section Three agent
 * Benjamín Nùñez - UNSC Marine
 * Nicole-458 - SPARTAN-II

Ancient history
Circa 97,445 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.

Rise of humanity
In 2080, Mars was the first planet colonized by humanity in the first wave of interplanetary colonization in the late 21st century. 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. Even before the planet was terraformed, Mars was one of the largest industrial hubs in the Sol system. 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
During the Interplanetary War, Mars became the first colony to rebel from Earth's control. During the events that led up to the war, Mars was home to numerous activists and anti-Earth insurgents. When the first shots of the war were fired, many Martians aligned themselves with the neo-communist Koslovics.

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. After the war ended in 2170 with the signing of the Callisto Treaty, remaining rebels on Mars were put down in a series of harsh crackdowns on the planet.

Peace under the UEG
The AMG Transport Dynamics Z-12 prototype vehicle quickly made a name for itself around 2319 by being showcased in the unpopulated areas of Mars.

At some point before or during the Insurrection, John Forge was in the Military police on Mars.

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.

During the war, refugees were housed on Mars.

Throughout the war, the UEG kept plans for an evacuation of industrial facilities away from Mars and Earth, which were eventually put into action following the Fall of Reach and the believed compromised location of the human homeworld.

During the Covenant's assault in the Sol system in late 2552, Mars was attacked by the Covenant following the arrival of the High Prophet of Truth's fleet. 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 the Fleet of Furious Redemption's ground forces, commanded by Jiralhanae Chieftain Lepidus. The UNSC lost the battle and Ackerson was taken prisoner. While the UNSC resistance was crushed, many human population centers on Mars survived the Covenant assault relatively intact and the Martian defense on the planet is credited for delaying Covenant forces from pressing their invasion on Earth. Following the Battle for Tribute with the loss of over half of the population on Tribute, Earth was unable to afford to spare any immediate assistance with Sol’s colonies left in ruins.

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.

Post-war
After the Human-Covenant War, an ONI surgical and research facility and a UNSC Spartan base were established on Mars, which augmented and housed the SPARTAN-IV supersoldiers. As the UNSC continued to rebuild in the years following the war, the orbital shipyards located on and around Mars remained its primary shipyards. In 2555, Mars played host to a joint-operations training exercise, Operation: FOCUS LENS 2555 - tasked with simulating a second Covenant invasion of Sol system.

At some point after 2556, Black-Box manipulated UNSC accounting to show that a cabin was built on Mars. In reality, it was built on Rossbach's World.

Following The Reclamation in October 2558, Mars was under the control of the Created, broadcasting their signals.

Economy
Martians produce a type of Whiskey, one that is enjoyed by Michael Stanforth. Misriah Armory, the largest military weapons and equipment manufacturer in human history, is based on Mars. The planet is also home to Martian Metals Shipyards, a spacecraft construction company with Aerofabrique SA also maintaining a presence in these shipyards.

Culture
Olympus Mons has been made suitable for snowboarding, with one Marine suggesting that they rode it during their youth. Bobsledding is also a well-renowned sport on Mars, conducted inside sealed habitats on the planet as part of the Martian Olympics.

Halo: Combat Evolved
One multiplayer map in Halo: Combat Evolved take place in orbit of Mars, Chiron TL-34.

Trivia

 * Despite being terraformed, the planet is still depicted as having a red-orange color when seen from space in Halo: Uprising. The Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition) contradicts this, saying that Mars is now "as blue and green as Earth."
 * Edom is the Hebrew word for Red, and the name of an ancient Semitic Kingdom.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: Landfall
 * Halo: Arms Race
 * Halo: Contact Harvest
 * Halo: Uprising
 * Halo Wars: Official Strategy Guide
 * Spirit of Bloody Fire. Cutter. Bloody hell.
 * Halo: Reach
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal
 * Halo: Cryptum
 * Halo: Glasslands
 * Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
 * Halo: Escalation
 * Halo: Nightfall
 * Halo: New Blood
 * Hunt the Truth
 * Halo: Hunters in the Dark
 * Halo: Fleet Battles
 * Halo 5: Guardians
 * Limited Edition dossiers
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo: Fractures
 * Oasis
 * Rossbach's World
 * Anarosa
 * Halo: Envoy
 * Halo: Legacy of Onyx
 * Halo: Renegades
 * Halo: Divine Wind