Victoria: The First City on Mars

Victoria was a settlement built on the Arcadia Planitia of the planet Mars, started in 2040. It was a joint venture between the United States, the European Union, Canada, Japan, and several ultra-wealthy businessmen. At its peak, it had a population of around 2500 people and about as many buildings and structures. There were plans to increase the size of the settlement to 25,000 people and the infrastructure for several other settlements was started in the surrounding area. A large object struck the space port in 2063, killing a dozen people and cutting Mars off from Earth. The destruction of the Spaceport on the outer edge of human civilization put all of Earth on the edge of World War III for a decade afterwards.

Year Founded: 2040
Population (peak): 2500
Climate: Sub-Polar Desert
Location: Arcadia Planitia
Primary Industry: Science

Founding and early History

Victoria was the idea of a few billionaires in the early 21st century, wanting to catapult humanity into the space age. Even before that, many futurists and writers dreamed of the day that such a city would be built. Support from Earth's governments was slow, but by the year 2030, the full funding and industrial might of half the world was onboard.

Progress was slow at first. Various locations on Mars were considered for starting the city, but a location on the Arcadia Planitia was decided on when water was confirmed to exist just below the surface. The first craft sent there contained artificial habitats, assembled and put in place by machines. Another craft was sent with the machinery needed to make landing pads for future manned rockets. Dozens of solar panels were built. The communications array was set up and more, all before a single human set foot on the surface of Mars.

The First crewed mission to Mars launched in August 2039, and 8 months later, in March 2040, humans were in orbit around Mars for the first time. On April 1st, 2040, the Lander craft separated from the Orbital station and headed for Mars. Several hours later, the Mars Firma crew stepped onto Martian soil for the first time.

Athena-7 Mission Crew

Mars Orbital Crew
Amelia Marys (Orbital Commander)
Jeffery Hines (Pilot)
Savanah Jackson (Flight Engineer)

Mars Firma Crew
Jessie Seagrove (Mission Commander)
Augustine Cho (Second-in-Command/Medical)
Richard Ocala (Ground Engineer)

"Armstrong said it best..."

-Richard Ocala.

The First Decade

The ground crew got to work on the already constructed buildings. They connected the solar panels to the buildings and checked the oxygen generators that landed there a year prior. Several RTGs were set up as a secondary source of power. They made all the necessary checks to ensure that the habitats were sealed properly. After living in there for three days, the all clear was given for the orbital crew to land as well.

The first food they consumed was freeze dried and came with the habitats on earlier missions, at least until the greenhouse could be set up and plants grown for the first time. After about six months, the crew had fresh vegetables.

By 2042, two more six man crews arrived, bringing the population to 18. By 2043, the number tripled to 54, then in 2044, tripled again to 162. During this time, hundreds of rockets were sent to Mars to build more infrastructure, and a new rocket landed with more materials every week. By 2045, The population tripled again to almost 500 people and enough homes were built to house over a thousand people.

The Settlement grew more slowly after this because the initial wave of qualified volunteers were vetted and trained and already sent. It took four more years for the city population to double. In 2049, the city had a population of a thousand people.

Other Details

Architecture and Engineering

Victoria was constructed of thousands of aluminum modules, most of which were constructed of the remains of landing craft. Most modules were cylinders measuring 4 meters by 4 meters, packed tightly together, connected by smaller cylindrical hallways. Others were more rectangular shaped, meant to be used for greenhouses or to house vehicles and equipment. The entire settlement is also buried under a meter of martian dirt for radiation protection. The only uncovered areas are greenhouses and modules built specifically to access the ouside world. Surrounding the city were thousands and thousands of solar panels, communications arrays, landing pads, and tanks for excess water and oxygen storage.

Mars Ground Habitat by NASA

Government

The primary government of Victoria consists of a council of 30 men and women. 6 of them were the original crew that landed on Mars and the other 24 were mission commanders from subsequent missions. In 2045, after the settlement grew to 500 people, an election was held to determine the first mayor of Mars. Jessie Seagrove, commander of the Athena-7 mission, easily won that election. Five years later, Jessie decided against running for re-election. Carol Aurora, commander of the Athena-42 mission, was elected Mayor of Mars instead.

Industry

There wasn't much in the way of business in the settlement itself, though the scientific knowledge exported back to Earth was considered its greatest asset. Around half of the population was dedicated to maintaining the settlement and its various systems and half of the population performed a rigorous set of experiments that were planned a decade in advance by the various space agencies from Earth.

Leisure

In their free time, residents of Victoria would do one of several things. Copies of several major websites from Earth are downloaded to the servers on Mars twice a day, allowing residents to stay updated on world events and keep up with social media. There is also the ability to go to one of several viweing modules and look out at the dead, red, empty, boring martian landscape. It was considered leisure to sign up for Solar Panel maintenance because that was one of the only times residents could go outside the habitats and into the martian atmosphere.

Pets

The very first creatures born on Mars were fish. Several species were sent over the years to study the effects of low gravity on these animals. When experiments were done, the fish were going to be terminated because it was expensive to keep them alive, but the residents of Victoria kept them as pets instead. Bettas were one such species sent to Mars that became especially popular. Eating the fish was outlawed, as was having them fight each other.

Spaceport Disaster of 2063

In December 2063, a large object struck the spaceport, destroying every single rocket, damaging all but one landing pad, destroying several communications arrays, and killing a dozen people. It was the first disaster on Mars that resulted in the loss of human life. There was a lot of speculation on what caused it. A meteor, a falling satelite, and more things were considered. An invesigation concluded that the object was likely a missile, and ballistics showed it was likely launched from Earth.

The West blamed several countries in Asia, who still hadn't been able to get their own Martian colony off the ground. Russia and China were understandably offended by this accusation. Talks escalated into threats of war. Satelites were shot out of Earth orbit and further missions to Mars were canceled for the time being. This disrupted communications with Victoria and essentially cut the city off from Earth for years afterwards.

Luckily, the city had been able to take care of itself for a long time and no longer required regular resupply missions from Earth. But with unreliable communications with their homeworld, Victoria was now on its own.

"Missile sucessfully struck the surface of Mars, cutting the human settlement off from Terra. Awaiting comfirmation to destroy the rest of the settlement. 23 of their planet's cycles is long enough. Humans must never be allowed to leave their own world."

- Unknown

Additional Details

((will add details as I think of them))

Humans being humans...it didn't actually take long for the first pregnancy on Mars to occur. Savannah Jackson gave birth to the first child born on Mars in 2044. She named her child Athena after the mission that brought them there, which spawned a tradition of naming children born on Mars after Greek and Roman gods. To date, 174 humans were born on another world.

It took thousands of requests, but two breeds of non-shedding cats, Sphynx and Oriental Shorthairs, were finally brought to Mars in 2062 using experimental suspended animation technology. All of the cats survived the journey. They are being held for further scientific study, but will likely be given out as pets once their scientific value ends.