Mr. Brown,
We know from episode 8 that the EDF had established at least a small presence on the Moon since returning to space because of the existence of the lunar railgun array, but did the EDF send someone to Mars as well? I'm curious because the books don't really mention any activity outside of lunar orbit except the mining of the asteroid belt.
The EDF had no interest in Mars. The moon provided a good site for large rail gun arrays and deep space monitoring due to its proximity to Earth and its low gravity. The Earth's only existence in space was through the EDF. They did not have the industrial capacity nor economy to support much more, and the emphasis had quickly shifted to defense once the Jung threat was discovered.
I have been carrying the impression, based on my reading of the books and the forum, that the Jung Threat had been discovered prior to people getting back into space, that its was because of the Jung threat that Earth pushed the subject of space.
It would be natural for a people who have discovered technology beyond them, and the presence of other people on the stars near them to first build telescopes and other space monitoring equipment first then proceed with a second phase of pushing into orbit with satellites, and a third phase of putting people into space. I figured that was what happened.
That would make sense. It was established in the book that the EDF had been around for no more than thirty or forty years before the time of the series. That would make having a limited presence in space believable and the Jung threat would make it being principally a defensive presence believable too.
I would also think, even with the short time in space, that at least an expedition to Mars to see what was there prior would be warranted. Would the Population of Earth prior to the BDP have not populated both the moon and Mars on their way to creating colonies?
Personally, if I were to plan a colony say on (insert PLANET (@olympe hehe) here) with untested or under tested tech, I would start close (the moon), make sure that works, expand on, enhance it, then move out further to figure out viability then move outward. While I know that the exo-sol colony would be on a life sustaining planet, you still want to know whats going to work and not work.
Plus, you have what...2500-3000 years of population growth on Earth, they will need some space.
You are correct @mike. the pre-BDP Earth did colonize both the moon and Mars. I base that on a passing mention in Netcast One where it's said that the "Mars provisional government" had extended offers of humanitarian assistance.
I think it's safe to assume that any human expansion into space would begin with an interplanetary effort before an interstellar effort. The first places to be colonized would be the planets, moons, and asteroids of our own solar system.
I would assume that at least a small EDF expedition to check Mars would be advisable. Even after a thousand years, there could have been something potentially useful on the surface. Someone would at least want to disptach a Scout or Defender to map the planet from orbit to see if there was anything left.
If Mars was Terraformed then maybe worth a look.
If not then the BD Plague may be present in the dead or machinery left exposed to the mostly cold and dry atmosphere of Mars.
Also All we know is what ships were built / that ships patrolled the system / visited other systems to scout them / a moon base was built and maintained. astroid mining and other such operations in system were carried on. the point i'm getting at is that Mars may well have been visited, and that there was nothing worth mentioning as related to the story so far.
