| "Green Mars" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Kim Stanley Robinson | |
| Country | USA |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Asimov's Science Fiction |
| Publication type | Periodical |
| Media type | |
| Publication date | September 1985 |
"Green Mars" is a science fiction novella by the American writer Kim Stanley Robinson, first published in Asimov's Science Fiction in September 1985, eight years before his novel of the same name.[1]
The author later said that he wrote the story "mainly to stake a claim – at least a moral claim – on the name. I thought Green Mars was such a good name, such an obvious name."[2] The story describes an expedition climbing Olympus Mons on Mars. Although it is set in a slightly different fictional universe from that of the novel—it has characters which also appear in the author's short works "Exploring Fossil Canyon" (1982) and "A Martian Romance" (1999)[2][3] — it is one of his first published works set in the landscape of the Mars trilogy. Much like a pilot episode, it introduces the plot premise and central ecological theme of the later series of novels.
That plot premise is that settlement and terraforming of Mars takes place over centuries, guided by pioneers whose lifespans are extended by biotechnology. The ecological theme develops as a struggle between interventionist "greens" who terraform and introduce wildlife on Mars, and conservationist "reds" who seek to preserve the ancient martian landscape unchanged.
At the time the story was written, the most recent missions to Mars were Viking 1 and Viking 2 which reached the planet in the summer of 1976.