Forth planet orbiting The Sun or Sol. Its
scientific name is Sol 4 and it is sometimes called
The Red Planet. It is a terrestrial planet, but it is not at all
Earth-like. The Martian atmosphere is too thin to breath and provides
almost no protection from deadly ultra-violet radiation from The Sun. Mars has 2
small moons. At least one Martian base was built on Mars, but was
abandoned long before -16 AI (2200 AD). Despite its hostility, Mars was the most
friendly planet to mankind, before Earth-like planets around nearby
star systems were discovered by advanced telescopes and robotic
probes.
Several Martian bases were probably constructed, and
terraforming technologies tested there. During the
colonisation, the two Martian Moons: Phobos and Deimos, may well
have provided the raw materials for building some of the starships.
[Source: A Short History of Mankind]
Manned base built on Mars. At least one scientific station was built on the planet
but was abandoned long before -16 AI (2200 AD).
The stations were probably built sometime between -196 and -92 AI 2020 and 2124 AD).
Despite the gravity being lower than Earth, it is still sufficient for plants,
and pressurised farms were probably constructed by covering small craters with domes made from ultra-violet absorbing
material. Because less rocket fuel is required to lift food supplies from Mars than
Earth Martian farming bases would have been economic during all the time mankind
was exploring and working in the outer Solar System. The
stations were probably abandoned sometime between -36 and -16 AI (2180 and 2200 AD).
[Source: A Short History of Mankind]
Hired soldier. Many governments, see it as more economic to import qualified soldiers when needed, than to maintain large
armed forces, although most have at least a small armed force and larger reserves that can be called up if a conflict
looks like turning into a war. Since the invention of forcefields,
employment as a mercenary today is much less hazardous than before, and the demand for travelling professional soldiers
is great enough that support industries have sprung up to service them. Most of the
power blocs are known to use mercenaries as their preferred instrument
of foreign policy.
See also Accredited Mercenary Course,
Merc Bureau,
Universal Armed Services &
Wild Blue Yonder.
[Source: A Short History of Mankind]
Satellite orbiting Earth (the third planet orbiting
The Sun or Sol). Because
Earth's scientific name is Sol 3, The Moon
is sometimes called Sol 3a. It is also called Luna. When written, The Moon is
always capitalised (and often put in quotation marks), and when spoken the word 'The' stressed to differentiate it from
any other moon. Many historians prefer using the name
Luna to "The Moon" to avoid confusion. At least one
lunar base was built on The Moon, but was abandoned long before -16
AI (2200 AD).
[Source: A Short History of Mankind]
Alternative word for satellite. Since the advent of artificial satellites, people discussing natural satellites often use
the word "moon" to avoid confusion.
A star system with three or more stars. When refering specifically to
the individual stars a capital letter is added to the name of the
star system with "A" being used for the largest star,
"B" for the second largest, "C" for the next largest and so on.
