Crater Outpost (Semper Idem)

The Crater Outpost settlement in Gale Crater (what is now modern day Kennedy State) was the first permanent American settlement on Mars. It was established by the Ares Colonial Project and NASA as part of their Horizons Initiative.

The initial settlement consisted of 10 people, arriving via the spaceship Aphrodite 7 on June 2, 2047. The settlement was very similar to Glennan Base, a one-year long temporary base to test how best to construct a permanent settlement. However, the ACP grossly underestimated how much food the colony would require, and the unreliability of AI systems aboard the housing compartments eventually led to a shortened water supply, straining the fragile colony.

Food and water issues were mainly solved when supplies, larger housing units, and more settlers arrived in 2048, but the start of World War III led to severe defunding of the Horizons Initiative, meaning that the ACP was unable to send new communication equipment to the colony.

Communication was lost with the Crater Outpost on January 14, 2050, coinciding with a Martian dust storm that would affect the Gale Crater at around the same time. A rescue mission (Emerald) was quickly scrambled by NASA, however, by the time the spacecraft arrived at Crater Outpost, there were no survivors. 12 preserved bodies were found at the base itself, along with malfunctioning equipment, however the remaining 6 bodies have never been found. Computer records forom January 14-January 19 reveal nothing of note, only a few comments about the dust storms and loss of communication, and the records abruptly end on January 19. Footprints found heading south indicate at least some of the settlers were traveling south, and the most prevailing hypothesis is that they were attempting to reach the rover Banter, which contained emergency supplies intended for a future mission to Mars.