Mars is the fourth planet in the Solar System. It has two natural satellites, Phobos and Deimos. It is mentioned frequently throughout the Gundam franchise, but it was not until Mobile Suit Gundam AGE that the planet played a major role in a Gundam production.
Universal Century[]
Mars features prominently in Mobile Suit Gundam F90 and Advance of Zeta Re-Boot: Gundam Inle.
The fourth planet was first colonized shortly before the onset of the Universal Century, at which point the new space colonies of the Earth Sphere became the main focus of the Earth Federation's space immigration program. The Martian surface settlements, which included a domed city and several underground facilities and waterways, merged into a single polity known as Side A (Arcadia). A spaceport was also carved out of the moon Phobos, and became the primary port of entry to Side A. Due to the remoteness of Mars, the Earth Federation neglected to maintain control over Side A, and it became a de facto autonomous country and a haven for outlaws.
Decades later in UC 0080, following the defeat of the Principality of Zeon in the One Year War, remnants of Kycilia Zabi's Zeon forces fled to Mars and conquered Side A. This Zeon remnant faction, led by General Chester, called itself Mars Zeon and ruled as a military dictatorship. In UC 0083, after Operation Stardust, remnants of Gihren Zabi's Zeon forces also fled to Mars, but disputed Mars Zeon's authority. The new arrivals took on the name ReZeon and instigated a guerilla conflict against Mars Zeon. A third faction, a Titans remnant led by Captain Tristan, also traveled to Mars after the Gryps Conflict of UC 0088 with part of the RX-124 Gundam TR-6 [Inle].
Open warfare between ReZeon and Mars Zeon broke out in UC 0088 after General Chester sent the Chester Fleet, led by his son Chester Jr., to the Earth Sphere to aid Axis Zeon in the First Neo Zeon War. Captain Tristan was persuaded by ReZeon Supreme Commander Alicia Zabi to join her faction, and the power of the Inle and the anti-air satellite system Eleanor gave them a decisive advantage in what became known as the ReZeon Nation Founding War. When the dust settled, ReZeon had total control of Side A and Phobos Harbor, while Chester and his forces were exiled into the Martian wilderness. Alicia Zabi declared herself the rightful heir to the Zabi family and steward of Zeon Zum Deikun's ideology, and was crowned Queen of Mars. The people of Side A welcomed the shift from Mars Zeon's dictatorship to ReZeon's enlightened monarchy, and the new government launched a program to encourage immigration from the Earth Sphere to Mars. ReZeon's reign was contested in UC 0089 when the Chester Fleet returned to Mars, and again in UC 0091 when Tristan's Titans remnant defected to Mars Zeon to carry out Operation Bright Star, an attempt to seize the Inle from ReZeon.
By UC 0120, Mars Zeon had built Solomon Fortress, a sprawling subterranean base beneath the volcanic mountain Olympus Mons. The heart of the fortress was the Olympus Cannon, a railgun that Mars Zeon planned to use to strike Earth from afar. As the Olympus Cannon neared completion, Mars Zeon launched an uprising against the Earth Federation and stole the prototype F90 Gundam F90 Unit 2, which they modified into the OMS-90R Gundam F90. The Earth Federation nicknamed the attackers the "Oldsmobile Army" due to the vintage designs of their mobile suits, and the Earth Federation Forces's 13th Autonomous Mobile Fleet, also called the Mars Autonomous Squadron, traveled to Mars in UC 0121 to eliminate the threat. The OMS-90R was disabled and retrieved, and the Olympus Cannon and Solomon Fortress were destroyed. The last survivors of Mars Zeon regrouped under Major Charles Rochester and abandoned Mars to carry out an unsuccessful invasion of Earth in UC 0122 with secret assistance provided by the Crossbone Vanguard.
The red planet entered a peaceful era by UC 0150. That year, the Martian colony of Mariner City celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding.
Future Century[]
Mars is briefly mentioned in passing by Gentle Chapman as being a warm vacation spot, implying there are colonies on the planet.
After Colony/Mars Century[]
In AC 196, after the uprising of the Mariemaia Army, Zechs Merquise and Lucrezia Noin both leave the Preventers to help in the terraforming of Mars at the behest of Relena Darlian. A few decades later, Mars becomes the stage for the events of New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Frozen Teardrop, where the planet has become a thriving society in its own right, thanks to an algae which sped up the terraformation process. However, with the growth of Mars as a society, political trouble brews, and a new war is on the verge of breaking out between Mars' Lanigreen Republic and the ESUN.
Cosmic Era[]
- Main article: Mars (Cosmic Era)
In the Cosmic Era timeline, Mars became a safe haven for both Naturals and Coordinators, who decided to escape the conflict at the Earth Sphere. Over time several colonies were established around Mars, among them the Australis colony, where its inhabitants were genetically altered to fulfill certain roles in society. Mars plays the biggest role in the manga series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73 Δ ASTRAY, which stars the crew of the Mars ship Acidalium who traveled to the Earth Sphere. There its crew members Ergnes Brahe and Nahe Herschel meet up with representatives of the various governments and try to get information about the situation and possible threats to Mars. In this series it is revealed, that Mars has trading relationships with Earth but keeps it a secret, that on Mars a rare metal exists which is important for the production of Neutron Jammer Cancellers.
Advanced Generation[]
In the Advanced Generation timeline, humanity migrated into space enacted under the Earth Federation's Mars Colonization Plan (also known as "Mars Birthday") 35 years' prior to the adaption to the A.G. Calendar. 150 years before the beginning of the series, people moved to the sixteen experimental colonies that were constructed in the Mars sphere. While Mars was initially thought to be a resource-rich frontier with sufficient space to address humanity's overpopulation, the colonization project failed when a botched terra-forming produced harmful particles from the surface which eventually lead to the fatal disease known as "Mars rays". The disease killed 20% of the settlers, and was named as such as the harmful particles can interact with the plasma in solar wind and produce aurora-like effects. The settlers were unable to prevent the spread of disease. With the botched investigations that followed, the migration plan was deemed a failure by the Federation government and was subsequently covered-up with the official report stating that there were no survivors.
The struggling population that remained in the Mars sphere founded a new nation led by Fezarl Ezelcant, with the desire to return to the Earth sphere. The new nation was called Vagan, and would be recognized as the Unknown Enemy (UE) by Federation forces. In hopes of finding a safe refuge on Earth, they instigated the One Hundred Years War by attacking the space colony Angel in A.G. 101. By A.G. 201, several years after the end of the war at the Battle of La Gramis, Vagan and Earth Federation scientists were able to use data from EXA-DB and the AGE System to create the Everse System; thereby nullifying the Mars Rays and making Mars a safe refuge for the Vagans.
Post Disaster[]
In the Post Disaster timeline, Mars was terraformed and colonized sometime prior to the Calamity War. When the conflict ended, Mars was left in ruins and had no surviving government structure. Gjallarhorn intervened in 003 P.D. and reorganized the planet into four territories under the jurisdiction of Earth's four new economic blocs. Over the following centuries, Mars became a backwater world that was economically dependent on the Earth Sphere, with its chief export being Half-Metal, a special substance found nowhere else that was essential to shield electronics from Ahab Waves. Earth's economic blocs gradually granted nominal autonomy to their Martian territories, but they continued to exploit Mars for its Half-Metal and neglected the needs of the perpetually impoverished local population, a situation that the increasingly corrupt and indifferent Gjallarhorn tacitly permitted.
In 323 P.D., the Chryse Autonomous Region began lobbying for economic independence from the Earth bloc of Arbrau and the right to mine and sell Half-Metal itself, with Kudelia Aina Bernstein becoming the movement's figurehead. Gjallarhorn attempted to assassinate Kudelia before she could reach Arbrau to negotiate for these rights, but their attempts were foiled by the Martian private security company Tekkadan. Furthermore, Kudelia and Tekkadan's actions also exposed the corruption within Gjallarhorn, disrupting the balance of power that Gjallarhorn had enforced for so long. In the aftermath of the McGillis Fareed Incident of 325 P.D., the Martian territories were granted complete autonomy from Earth and banded together to form a new state, the Martian Union, with Kudelia becoming its first chairperson.
External Links[]
Solar System |
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Celestial Bodies Mercury | Venus | Earth (Moon) | Mars | Jupiter | Saturn |
Celestial Spheres Venus Globe | Earth Sphere (Universal Century, Cosmic Era) | Mars Sphere | Jupiter Sphere |