Let's say we'd terraformed Mars and the surface of the planet eventually looked like in the attached picture, where would you build Mars' capital? And almost more important: What would be its name? Please mark your desired location with a red spot on the map and write the name next to it!

EDIT: Maybe you noticed this map is labeled with "25%" - if anyone is interested in higher resolutions of this, I also have a "50%" and a "100%" version.

Hello! Well, I don't have an exact location that I would prefer, but surely somewhere bordering the large lake (in case the ocean level rises, there'd be a massive flood, so I doubt it would be prudent to place it on the coast). I would call it a completely new, invented name, like Aeslia or Zaidia (sorry if someone invented those words before) or something, to signify a new place with new people and a new beginning. But it will be probably called something very cheesy, like Kingstown or New Washington or New something or name.of.queen.of.England.at.that.timetown. Another nice name would be Liberty city or Unity city. You asked for our opinion; what's yours?

Oh my goodness, I can see my house from here.


Nice image. All we need to do now is divert much of the asteroid belt so the bodies with water and organics slingshot off Jupiter's gravity and hit Mars. Then all that would happen.

I'd locate in near that crater on the right side of the bay in the ocean. Hmmm, maybe I'd call it Flanaganville.

I would locate the first settlement/city near the foot of the Ceti Mensa, close to Candor Chaos, one of the smaller bays of the Valles Marineris. As a name for this place, I'd choose 'Cetus' - after said mountain massif. Since flatland would probably be relatively rare in that region, the bigger cities would likely be founded there, while smaller settlements could be 'carved into the mountains' - which could actually be an amazing sight too.

Oh, one more thing about the climate: Any settlement within the Valles Marineris would be surrounded from all sides by huge mountain ranges. Whether or not they would get enough rain might be questionable, but I think that -due to the lower gravitation of Mars- clouds could form in higher atmospherical regions than on Earth, and thus irrigate the valley instead of being blocked from getting there by the surrounding mountain ranges. Maybe we have some meteorologists among us who could say a bit more about this topic.

Thanks Floppy, it is a great image. I wish we had a copy without the contour isolines so it could be used as a planet texture.

Where is Olympus Mons on this map? I would build a skying resort there...

Just imagine a 22 km downhill skying course. At the end you'd be going supersonic since on Mars g=3.7m/s^2, h=22000m, so v=\Sqrt{2 g h}=403.5 m/s, which is almost twice the speed of sound on Mars

It's that gigantic 'pimple' northwest of the Tharsis region, on the coast of the Borealic Ocean.


I wonder what it would feel like when you start from the top and eventually break through the cloud cover. Must be better than that Austrian guy's skyjump.


I could replace the black contour isolines with a colour that is averaged from the surrounding terrain, but that might take a while.

Hey, Floppy! Check out this great piece of news! I'm going to apply for it.
http://www.euronews.com/2013/05/09/more ... nize-mars/

One big lesson learned from the biosphere, a closed eco system experiment, is the need to test people for compatibility. You cannot put all these people in a tube and expect them to all just get along. There is no avoiding people you cannot get along with.

See part 4 under contents:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

Well, even if you went there with your best buddies; having them around 24/7 will end up having you all at each other's throats in no time. From personal experience: I went to stay at my best friend's house for a week. I returned home after just 5 days; I couldn't bear the smell, the lack of hygiene, the horrendous music that was playing incessantly and the several dozen cigarettes per day smoked by my pal. At the time we knew each other for 10 years and I had no idea that my friend had such an unpleasant side. So there are no fully "compatible people"; something about thy bunkmate will ultimately piss you off.