Under the guidance of NASA, the first manned expedition to Mars lands safely on the planet's surface. Sponsors of the mission include the United States, Russia, Japan, and the European Union. Transit between Earth and Mars takes 138 days. The six man crew touches down on Mars on June 19, 2019.
After spending 600 days on the planet's surface, the first Mars mission crew returns to Martian orbit. Then, using the ERV (Earth Return Vehicle), the crew travels back to Earth, finally landing on July 3, 2021. A second crew launches for Mars later that year.
The second Martian manned expedition lands on Mars at the beginning of the year.
In September, the second Martian crew boards the ERV for their long trip home. As the second crew heads toward Earth, the European Union and Japan both unexpectedly announce they will pull out of the third Mars Mission. They give no reason for their decision at the time. Later, it becomes known that each of them did so to focus on building Lunar Bases.
The remaining Mars mission sponsors forge ahead with their plans. They are able to find other governments to help finance the third mission.
After 612 days on Mars, the second crew returns to Earth. The remaining sponsors proceed with the third manned mission to Mars.
The third Martian crew launches. Extra equipment has been launched ahead of them to help extend their stay to at least 800 days. Their goal will be to explore major portions of the planet surface and research the feasibility of Martian terraforming (creating an Earth-like environment on the planet).
Nearly two months into transit between Earth and Mars, the third crew's command module, the Demeter, is struck by meteoroids. The life support system suffers irreparable damage. The entire six person crew perishes three days later. This loss, combined with other events in the years to come, will postpone further missions to Mars for over a quarter of a century.
Japan becomes the first nation to have a fully operational He-3 Fusion Reactor. Unlike other attempts at fusion reactors, which use only hydrogen isotopes, the Osaka University-designed reactor uses helium-3. And, when fused with deuterium (heavy hydrogen), the helium-3 yields more useful energy than the other methods. The DHe3 reactor also produces much less radiation and waste, making it safe for widespread use. Though helium-3 is rare on Earth, it is abundant on the Moon.
The European Union has a Lunar Mission crew on standby. With the announcement of the Osaka Reactor, the EU mission launches. Five months later, the Joint European Torus station is online. Japan soon launches a Lunar Mission as well. In the coming years, many other countries also will launch Lunar Missions, all trying to claim a piece of the now valuable real estate on the Moon. Each of these missions will have the same purpose: to build a facility to extract the helium-3 from the lunar regolith (the surface soil of the Moon).
Key members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) propose a new Moon Agreement based on the previous Moon Agreement of 1979, and the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. Neither the EU, Japan, China, Russia, or the United States will ratify this agreement, however.
As retribution, the same OPEC members decide to collaborate on an accelerated space program of their own.
The European Union helium-3 extraction facility is situated on the near-side of the Moon where scientists have predicted high concentrations of the substance. Once the EU begins shipping helium-3 from this facility back to Earth, they will initiate construction of a second extraction site. The Japanese facility will be completed soon after the first EU facility. Chinese and American facilities are under construction as well.
Many corporations, as well as other governments, begin pressing for property rights on the Moon. Members of the EU decide the best response is to form an economic bloc to coordinate their ventures in Earth orbit and on the lunar surface. With this effort, the Unified European Economy is born. By allowing open membership to all European countries and European international companies, the UEE becomes a major force off-planet.
UEE founders base their organization on the European Union (1998), itself based on the European Economic Community (1957). UEE member nations try to maintain peaceful relations within the group by using the threat of expulsion from the organization as a deterrent to would-be aggressors. Economic exclusion manages to keep most countries in line, but a few Balkan nations are expelled in less than five years.
Comprised of Mexico, the United States, and Canada, the UNAE is founded in response to the creation of the UEE. The UNAE is initially based on the NAFTA protocols of the 1990s. The organization soon expands to include other select American nations, but no country contributes as much to the UNAE as its three founding members. Most of the production facilities owned by the UNAE are constructed by the United States, indicating that this economic consolidation is primarily a means to protect interests planetside.
By the time the OPEC crew reaches the moon in 2035 and begins construction of a He-3 extraction facility, most of the lunar surface has been unofficially claimed by one of the moon's current residents. OPEC demands possession of territory occupied by EU facilities. The land dispute is brought before the United Nations.
The Lunar War, as it becomes known, is a misnomer. Very little fighting actually occurs on the Moon. But the conflict does have its origins on the lunar surface. In early 2036, after the UN has failed to settle the lunar land disputes between OPEC and the UEE, the UEE launches a security crew to the Moon to protect their interests. Rumors have surfaced that the OPEC crews are armed.
After a terse verbal exchange between a UEE extraction crew and an Arab construction crew, fighting breaks out. Although each side blames the other for the event, the result is the same: three members of the UEE and the entire OPEC crew die.
In retaliation, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran launch air strikes on cities in the UEE, initially using conventional explosive weapons. The UEE respond in kind. The UNAE, unwilling to face-off with the UEE, pulls all military support from Saudi Arabia and its neighboring countries. Desperate now, the Middle Eastern nations target biological weapons on major European cities. Although most missiles are destroyed before reentry, one does slip through the UEE's orbital defenses, hitting Paris. Over 100,000 people perish in the initial viral outbreak.
Fearing further escalation of the conflict, the UNAE and Japan reluctantly join with the UEE. This alliance, bolstered by intelligence provided by the UNAE, cripples the missile capabilities of OPEC. But Saudia Arabia, Iran and many of the other smaller nations still persevere. From mid-2037, through most of 2038, battles rage in and around the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. Casualties rise beyond 2 million. It is not until UEE forces invade Tehran, then target Riyadh and Mecca, that the OPEC alliance finally surrenders.
In order to prevent new land disputes on the Moon, all lunar property holders agree to sign the Treaty of 2039. The agreement prohibits expansion of operations beyond the boundaries laid down before the Lunar War. None of the OPEC countries that participated in the Lunar War can establish a permanent presence on the Moon.
The Asian Economic Bloc, or AEB, is formed in March of 2040, confounding most mainstream analysts who had discounted the possibility of cooperation between the nations involved. The consolidation of efforts on Earth and on the Moon by China, India, Japan, the Little Dragons of southeast Asia and Indonesia, and several of the former Soviet Republics, comes as a mighty blow to the UEE and UNAE. With vastly greater natural and human resources, the AEB wields superior power over the other two major economic blocs.
The AEB grants their member countries a good deal of internal self-governance, but all international relations are handled through the AEB. Member nations are expected to contribute to the AEB as best they can. If a country does not meet expectations, they are penalized or even expelled. This fosters a sense of competition between the members, but rarely any serious hostility. The strength of the coalition helps ensure the AEB will maintain political, economic and social dominance for decades to come.
The first orbital Earth colony becomes operational in June, 2042. It is constructed at the 3rd LaGrange Point in Earth orbit. The UNAE, the sponsors of the project, see this as a significant step toward coping with crisis level overpopulation on the planet's surface.
This first colony is designed by Joseph Haldeman, then an employee of NASA. Haldeman goes on to found Haldeman Industries, a company later renowned for creating space stations.
The UNAE launches the first manned mission to Mars in over a quarter of a century. By dubbing it the Renaissance Mission, the UNAE hopes to signal the rebirth of human travel to Mars, as well as the economic and spiritual renewal of the nations in their bloc.
Using fusion-powered rockets, the transit between Earth and Mars takes only 60 days, rather than the 130- to 180-day Hohmann transfer orbit necessary only twenty-six years before. The twelve person crew consists of scientists from key UNAE companies. Their two-year mission focuses on cataloging the planet's resources and preparing Mars for a UNAE colony.
Once the Renaissance Crew returns to Earth, the UNAE begins the rigorous planning of the new Martian Colony. They establish a terraforming protocol to be initiated once key segments of the colonization strategy are in place.
Tanaka Heavy Industries, a conglomerate of Asian industrial giants, has been a leader in developing fusion reactors since the first days of the AEB. With the cooperation of Osaka University, Tanaka finally designs a reactor efficient enough both in power and in mass to propel one of their space-planes. With the superiority of this advance as a method for escaping a planet's gravity, the fusion powered space-plane virtually negates the need for space elevators. Large scale mining of planets and asteroids is now seen as only a few years away.
A harsh economic downturn forces the UNAE to delay the launch of their Martian colonists until 2069. That year, one hundred colonists arrive on Mars to establish a habitat site at Ares Vallis. Priorities include building additional habitats to allow more specialists to join the effort on Mars.
The UNAE has a great many hopes pinned on the success of their Martian colonies. They want to replenish their dwindling natural resources, find a permanent solution to their population explosion, and regain the prestige lost by North America in the previous century.
Analysts of the time label the Ares Colony an unwise investment. They feel the initial cost is too high, and that the UNAE's resources would be better applied toward gaining influence on Earth.
Orbital and asteroid mining is established as a parallel venture to the Ares Colony, but soon the two grow in synergy. Mars provides a convenient local market for the metals, carbon and volatiles mined from the Belt and also serves as a nearby shipyard. As the mining activity increases, small outpost colonies are formed by independent miners throughout the Belt.
The United Nations, founded in 1945, is disbanded in 2072. The poor performance of the organization, as evidenced by its handling of the Lunar War, and its inability to effectively sanction the major economic blocs, renders the UN obsolete in the eyes of most world leaders.
In five years, the number of UNAE colonists living in the network of habitats in the Ares Colony grows to nearly five thousand. The completion of two domed colonies over the next year will allow the population to swell to 25,000. With the announcement of the new dome construction, many smaller nations sign on to the fledgling colony. People volunteer from all areas of life - from once doubting scientists to poverty stricken laborers from Central and South America. Because the construction of these new colonies will be automated with advanced robotics, however, very few people are accepted for the journey right away. The majority of those who want to live in the UNAE's Martian colonies will have to wait for the full-scale terraforming effort.
There are alternatives, however. Other colonies begin springing up all over Mars. With the decreasing cost of travel between Earth and Mars, some nations not affiliated with the three large economic blocs, including the former OPEC countries, establish colonies of their own. Lacking the advanced robotics of the Ares Colony, these unregulated colonies will evolve on pure determination. Unfortunately, human error and miscalculation will cost the lives of many of these rugged pioneers.
Efforts to tame the Martian frontier revitalize a practice in near dormancy for 400 years. Indentured servitude, in which a company pays for a colonist's transport in return for several years' service, proves to be an effective means to exploit something most poor nations have in abundance: unemployed workers. Some Martian colonies even make back door deals with the most desperate countries to ship segments of their populations to Mars for work in construction, mining, and service positions. By taking advantage of the antiquated labor laws of these poor nations, the unregulated colonies subject the indentured servants to dangerous situations with few of the amenities enjoyed by laborers from the three major economic blocs.
Soon, the unregulated colonies begin to undercut the Ares Colony, which the UNAE has expected not to turn a profit for another ten years. The financial hit causes the North American bloc to fall even further behind its rivals. Ironically, however, the stress on the UNAE nations has the effect of encouraging emigration of their people to Mars in the decades which follow.
With the completion the two dome colonies, Apsu and Tiamat, the population of UNAE colonists swells. Most of the new arrivals on Mars will be involved with terraforming operations.
Engineers and their crews start construction of a giant mirror to orbit over the South Polar region of Mars. Once in place, the mirror will raise the polar temperature by about 5 degrees. This will melt the polar ice caps, releasing carbon dioxide trapped in the caps, as well as in the Martian permafrost. The carbon dioxide is predicted to create a greenhouse effect which will continually raise both the temperature and the pressure in the Martian atmosphere - the first goals of Martian terraforming.
After years of unprecedented growth in the technology industry, the entire sector heads for a crash. Worried that incompatible standards in the global market place will hinder continued growth, major investors quickly liquidate their high tech holdings. The resulting run on technology stocks wipes out large corporations worldwide. The AEB is hit especially hard.
Realizing the severity of the situation, the AEB rushes to solve the standards issue, and pushes for the creation of a body to oversee technology standards worldwide. The resulting organization, the Computing Standardization Forum, is first met by heavy criticism. By the end of the following year, however, nearly every country in the world is a member of the CSF. The boost to economic growth which results helps a fledgling new government take hold.
Led by the AEB, the United Earth League (UEL) is officially convened in 2076, four years after the disbanding of the UN. All economic blocs and unaffiliated countries are invited to join. The UEE reluctantly ratifies the League Charter, recognizing that with the even larger power base of the UEL, the AEB would be stoppable. Many other smaller powers sign on with the UEL as well. But a few nations, mainly those with off-world interests, do not. These countries are labeled as rogues, and they are continually pressured to ratify the League Charter. The UNAE also declines to attend the First League Congress, and refuses to recognize the UEL.
The UEL government structure is very similar to that used by the AEB. The UEL acts as a overseer; there is a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of an economic bloc. However, off-world affairs are handled solely by the League. A premier is appointed by the key members of the major economic blocs. Lei Chen serves as the first premier of the UEL. A senate is created as the lawmaking body. Jakarta is designated as the temporary capital of the UEL until a final location is agreed upon. The UEE will lobby for Geneva to be the permanent capital for many years to come.
Since the previous decade, plans for the UEL have been circulating in the higher echelons of government and inside the board rooms of international corporations. Rumors of a government body to replace the UN have been surfacing for even longer than that.
After three years under intense economic and political pressure, and still no profits from their Martian colonies, the UNAE can no longer resist the United Earth League mandate for them to join the organization. UNAE member countries also officially become members of the CSF. UNAE representatives travel to Jakarta to ratify the League Charter. In doing so, they concede control of their Martian colonies to the League. UNAE critics claim the North American bloc stalled in joining the UEL to buy time for their Martian colonies to pay off. The way the detractors see it, the UNAE hoped increased economic power would translate into political leverage once they finally entered the UEL. In fact, the UNAE's huge investment of time and finances into the colonies has the opposite effect. This reinforces the opinion that the UNAE's Martian colonies, ten years old at this point, have always been a mistake.
Profits slowly trickle in from the UNAE's original colonies, two years before expectations, but three years too late to benefit the North American bloc. With continued growth all but assured, the UEL tentatively approves the construction of two more domes on Mars.
Reports come from Mars about the unregulated Martian colonies and the UEL colonies in conflict over territory. A rogue Venezuelan colony is said to have sabotaged one of the Tiamat Colony's automatons. Irate members of the Tiamat mining crew lash out at a passing prospectors from the Nigerian colony. Equipment owned by a UEL corporation is destroyed. There is alleged tampering with oxygen stores at the Iranian colony. Such skirmishes soon lead to increased destruction and broader fighting.
Apparently in retaliation for the destruction of an Algerian-habitat, the unregulated colonies coordinate their efforts. They launch a salvo of missiles and manage to destroy the orbital mirror.
The Martian terraforming effort is halted. Many people believe the rogue colonies destroyed the mirror in anger. But others think it was an act of resistance. If the Martian environment is made more hospitable, the UEL can easily unload their surplus population on the planet, as well as establish their own government there. The rogue colonists, and their sponsor nations, see this as a threat. Because they view Mars as a way to reclaim lost glory, they want to establish and maintain dominance there.
Back on Earth, following the destruction of the polar mirror, the UEL calls for the creation of a Martian colonial government. The UEL also increases pressure on the nations sponsoring the rogues to acquiesce to their demands.
The leaders of the UEL sponsored colonies and of the rogue colonies meet at the Apsu Dome. They all agree that the conflict has gone too far. No one wants to repeat the mistakes of the Lunar War.
After lengthy debates end four days later, the territorial disputes are still not settled and a form of government cannot be decided upon. The Congress calls a recess for two months. In the meantime, the UEL applies renewed pressure on the rogue colonies' sponsor countries back on Earth.
Mining companies from the unregulated colonies agree to pool their resources, forming a conglomerate company they call the Martian Mining Corps. Outsiders believe part of the reason for this decision is to create a stronger power base for the so-called rogues as they continue to negotiate with the UEL.
When the Colonial Congress is reconvened, a startling announcement is made. The unregulated colonies propose a compromise solution which allows Mars-based companies to maintain some authority in how they run their businesses and related services, as well as a degree of independence in other areas. In return for the UEL pushing through this agreement, the rogue nations on Earth will become members of the League.
Although suspicious of the proposal, the UEL finally approves a modified version. What is agreed upon limits the freedoms of the Martian companies without forcing them to relinquish total control. With this agreement, all territorial disputes are resolved and the Martian Protectorate is founded. As anticipated by many in the former rogue colonies, however, most of the officials initially elected to the Protectorate are from the UEL colonies.
In the coming years, the UEL grants the Martian Protectorate increasing latitude in managing the colonies. Thirteen years after the UEL's formation, the organization is still united in name only. With commitments to solving problems on their home planet, and the lengthy interplanetary travel time, it remains difficult for the League to shape the new colonial government. Instead, the UEL must rely on the implicit threat of punishment to keep the colonies in line.
The Martian Protectorate, at the behest of the UEL, puts forth the Ecopoesis Manifest. It calls for Mars to reach a state of ecopoesis within eighty years using a new method: the release of perflurocarbons by factories on the surface of the planet. Like the orbital mirror, the factories will increase the greenhouse effect, thereby warming the ice caps and permafrost, and releasing carbon dioxide. During the first twenty years of the plan, the Protectorate will also determine the best course for introducing more water into the Martian biosphere.
Ecopoesis is the stage in terraforming at which the temperature and air pressure of the Martian atmosphere is hospitable enough for a person to move freely on the surface without an exoskeletal suit. However, the air still contains poisonous amounts of carbon dioxide. People must continue to wear breathing units. With water vapor introduced into the biosphere, genetically engineered plants could produce more oxygen in the atmosphere.
Feeling the strain of overpopulation, the UEL lauds the Ecopoesis Manifest. But they will spend the coming years lobbying the Protectorate for measures to keep accelerating the terraforming process.
As mining activities in the Asteroid Belt expand through the end of the 21st century, the inevitable parasites evolve as well. Shipments of refined metals and volatile materials, much of it transported on drone ships and unpowered containers, fall prey to hijackers hungry for an easy profit. Overall, however, piracy proves only a minor nuisance.
In the years around 2105, the Martian economy makes rapid strides. Existing companies continue to grew, while new businesses, such as Parkhurst Heavy Industries and Mangala Technologies, are founded. In response to the boom, the UEL increases tariffs on the Protectorate.
The strong economic growth on Mars, coupled with the promise of a more hospitable environment in the future, lures more and more people from Earth to live on the red planet. The Martian terraforming effort, however, proceeds slowly. And Earth's population keeps expanding.
After decades of wrangling, the UEE finally agrees to let the capital remain in Jakarta. To commemorate this event, construction of the UEL's new military headquarters, the Civitas, begins. The Civitas is designed to withstand any attack, including nuclear assault and planetary bombardment.
The Martian terraforming effort does not meet its thirty-year milestone. The Protectorate calls for releasing greater volumes of perflurocarbon into the atmosphere to intensify the greenhouse effect. The Colonial Congress considers construction of a new orbital mirror, but the idea is defeated. A majority feels the mirror is too vulnerable to sabotage.
The UEL, now less distracted by troubles at home, warns the Protectorate to come up with a way to speed the terraforming process or lose authority in the matter to the Earth government. Protectorate scientists try to ease UEL fears by claiming the Manifest's targets soon will be reached.
After years of research, Dr. Stewart Pendleton publishes his paper, "Super-Molecular Reconstruction of Atomic Structures Through Magnetic Particle Acceleration and Separation." His work delves into the theories of meta-atoms, establishing breakthrough understandings which will form the basis of fusion and weapon development for many years to come.
Dr. Kelly Traeger designs a multiple fuel cycle fusion system, composed of several reactor modules, to be used in space stations. Called the KT-Alpha, the reactor builds on ancillary techniques in Pendleton's research.
The KT-Alpha is fueled by hydrogen. The first stage reactor uses a modified deuterium-deuterium reaction to produce helium-3 to fuel the second stage reactors, as well as to produce helium-3 for new He3-He3 reactors used in spaceships.
Unfortunately for Dr. Traeger, the company her father founded, Traeger Aerospace only has experience building space-planes. The company is not equipped to construct the KT-Alpha. Dr. Traeger must seek outside investors, and the process is made difficult by so many competitors flooding the market with reactor designs.
For four years following her discovery, Kelly Traeger has been unable to sell her design for the KT-Alpha reactor. She fears design knock-offs will appear at any time. Finally, however, there is good news. Haldeman Industries proposes a merger with Traeger Aerospace.
Haldeman wants to incorporate the KT-Alpha into the company's next station design. Haldeman also wants a business partner to share the growing financial risk in the aerospace industry. Competition is heating up with Tanaka Heavy Industries, already an experienced aerospace developer, taking an interest in the construction of space stations.
After the Protectorate missed two previous milestones, the UEL gave the Martian body one last chance to meet the timetable of the amended Ecopoesis Manifest. Now, after efforts have once again fallen short at the fifty-year mark, the UEL calls for a special session of the Colonial Congress to be led by their delegation.
Earth populations are at an all-time high, despite the UEL's efforts to lower the birth rate. Migration to orbital colonies and the current Martian domes has had no significant impact on Terran overcrowding. The prevailing attitude of the UEL is that ecopoesis must be reached within twenty years. The UEL delegation to the Colonial Congress demands new measures to make this happen.
Research has shown that vast amounts of carbon dioxide reside within carbonate minerals on the Martian surface. However, current techniques won't release this stored CO2; a more drastic approach is required. Three options are proposed: a heat beam concentrated on certain areas of Mars, buried nuclear explosives, and an asteroid impact with the surface of Mars.
The Colonial Congress finds all of these options unacceptable - and the last two particularly disturbing. Led by the Martian Mining Corps representatives in the Congress, they protest by shutting down all terraforming plants on the surface of Mars.
After three months of deadlock, the UEL and the Protectorate come to an agreement. The Protectorate will construct an orbiting platform equipped with a heat beam in return for certain concessions, including lower tariffs. The UEL ultimately agrees.
Marcus Saar holds many distinctions within the UEL. To date, he is the only politician from the UNAE to be appointed Premier. He is the first Premier to die in office as well. And Saar is the first UEL Premier to gain his office primarily by maligning Mars.
After taking office, Saar vows to push forward with the terraforming of Mars and Venus no matter what. "The people of Earth deserve these options," Saar declares. "We will not stand for undue delay because of the selfishness of those already enjoying the financial benefits of living and working off-planet."
With the revised Ecopoesis Manifest secured, Premier Saar gets Martian terraforming moving once more. Construction of the orbital heat beam begins. Other efforts resume. But the rate of change never reaches its former tempo.
Two weeks after the completion of the heat beam, terraform engineers use it to carve a canal between two sections of the Martian landscape several scientists predict will evolve into a pair of seas. In carving the first canal, carbon dioxide is released as theorized. But, in the middle of carving of a second canal, trouble arises. The heat beam malfunctions and fries the control system. The beam is shut down for investigation.
In a series of public speeches and addresses to the UEL Senate, Premier Marcus Saar promotes his plan to build up Terran military forces around Earth, Mars and the Asteroid Belt in response to increased pirate activity. "We've seen the rate of space hijackings double in the last years," Saar tells one group. "And we've seen these pirates evolve from lone wolves to sophisticated clans equipped with much of the latest technology. It's time the UEL put a stop to this trend."
One pirate clan, the Marauders, grows in dominance, apparently after capturing and upgrading retired UEL spacecraft and weapons. After a string of highly publicized raids by the Marauders, which result in dozens of deaths and financial losses near half a billion credits, Premier Saar gets his way. Funds are appropriated for increased patrols by the UEL of all trading lanes between the Belt, Mars and Earth.
The Martian Protectorate decides it also must respond to the increased pirate activity. They create a space militia, doing so without the consent of the UEL. The militia is small and disorganized; its only function is to protect Martian space traffic.
Displeased by the formation of the Colonial Militia, the UEL prepares to send another delegation to Mars. These plans fall apart, however, when members of the delegation become suddenly and severely ill. Premier Saar experiences the same dire symptoms the next day. The deaths of these government officials within three days confirm that they are among the first victims of a viral plague sweeping Earth at an unparalleled rate.
Tens of thousands of people die the first week of the outbreak, with millions diagnosed with the virus the second week. Within hours of exposure to the virus, a victim experiences debilitating pain in the limbs, followed shortly by muscle paralysis. Within days, the paralysis advances to vital muscle areas. Typically, the victim dies from heart failure or suffocation due to the lungs being incapacitated.
Early medical study shows the virus is spread through the air as well as through direct contact with bodily fluids and wastes from the human victims. One cough from a contaminated individual is enough to cause infection. Other studies indicate the virus has a dormant phase in which it is transmitted from unaffected carriers, probably mosquitoes and/or flies, to human victims.
By the third week, the devastation caused by the plague brings about widespread civil unrest. Earth citizens riot when demands for medical treatment cannot be met. With the weakening of local and regional law enforcement agencies, looters run rampant.
Just three months after the outbreak, the Earth's population already has been reduced by an estimated 10%. Before the end of the year, however, the plague is contained to designated Quarantine Zones. But the lawlessness that began in the early weeks will continue for many years even after a cure for the plague is found.
The Mars Consortium is founded by the companies operating on Mars to protect their collective economic interests and to eliminate the in-fighting between competitors, and certain nationalities, that has gone on since the first days of Martian colonization. Acting as a consortium, the various companies on Mars can better represent themselves in the Protectorate and to the UEL.
Because the UEL is preoccupied by the pandemic on Earth, their reaction to the formation of the Mars Consortium is muted. With the UEL temporarily out of the picture, the Consortium unofficially halts terraforming on Mars once again.
Anjali Johar is appointed as the UEL's new premier. She promises to find a cure to the Pandemic Virus within the year. She takes a hard stance against rioters, but is even tougher on those trying to flee the Quarantine Zones. "We must be vigilant," Johar says. "Even if the cure seems at times more cruel than the ailment, we cannot shirk from taking our medicine." Many infected people trying to escape the QZs are shot dead.
Johar maintains that if people with the virus can be kept in isolation, the plague will be curtailed. Even with the best efforts of the military, however, small outbreaks of the virus continue to crop up outside of the QZs. The premier's no nonsense policies, although justified, make her very unpopular.
Despite the chaos the plague causes for the economy of Earth, the UEL still polices the commercial transit lanes between the Belt, Mars and the home planet. Johar justifies this expense by pointing to the ongoing pirate activity in space. She vows that "these outlaws shall not benefit from our grave misfortunes here on Earth."
The Observer 3, along with her sister ships, launch to reinvestigate the Jovian moons as prospective sites for both mining and human colonization. Past probes of Jupiter were too limited in their scope. New data is required to satisfy the growing interest in the commercialization of the outlying planets stirred by the Earth Pandemic and the slow Martian terraforming process.
Premier Johar leads the call for expanding Earth's frontiers. She vows to take humanity to the farthest reaches of the Solar System. "We must reach far beyond the confides of our native planet if we want to survive as a species. I believe it is that simple."
After three years of grueling research, Mukhtar Biotech discovers a cure for the Pandemic Virus. This breakthrough will not be put to use saving lives immediately, however. Over the last two years, the disease has been largely contained through diligent policing of the Quarantine Zones. So, for the now long dead victims of the virus, Mukhtar's discovery has come too late. But, with a cure in hand, people need no longer fear the dormant virus will resurface. This means the arduous process of decontaminating the QZs can begin.
Nearly one-third of Earth's population (including over one-half of the planetside military forces) has succumbed to the virus. Premier Johar still pushes for the terraforming of Mars, but with the need for massive population relocation much less urgent, the issue is not given priority. Soon, another new discovery will keep the topic on the back burner indefinitely.