Alter Knochen

I'm going to start expanding on various possible futures for human settlement on Mars. First up: the Polar City 1) Beneath the blue ice of the Martian polar cap, families swim in warm pools surrounded by palms and flowering gardens. 2) An evening concert draws people into the gardens at the heart of the city. Piano and strings carry between the terraces, where the colonists settle together beneath flowering trees and the immense vault of ancient ice. 3) The Polar Gate. At the city’s edge, an observation lounge opens onto the frozen Martian landscape. Residents read, meet friends, and watch expedition crews prepare their rovers. 4) Homes open onto shared terraces filled with fruit trees, vegetables, and flowers. A grandmother helps her granddaughter tend a plant as children play nearby, another ordinary afternoon in a neighborhood beneath the ice of Mars.