Chapter 1284 - The Colonial History of Mars (2/2)

“Because of political reasons,” Lilith shrugged. “All countries were condemning each other’s colonial behavior, emphasizing that outer space resources must be shared by all human beings. Of course, they could not slap their own face. The official name of all colonies were XXX Scientific Research Station. According to the data in my database, by 2120, in less than ten years, Pan-Asia Cooperation built more than 20 ‘scientific research stations’ with more than 1,000 personnel on Mars.”

Jiang Chen was shocked by the number.

As the president of Celestial Trade, no one knew the cost of Mars colony better than him. From the budget he received from the Mars colony, even with his financial power, he felt pain every time he received the report.

With more than 20 colonies built and no profit achieved, Pan-Asia Cooperation was probably losing more than a space elevator every year.

However, even if it was the case, Jiang Chen still understood their intention.

To give an example, it was like Uber and Lyft competing for business. Everyone was burning money at the start, and burning money at an incredible rate, but it was for the purpose to gain market share. Perhaps Pan-Asia Cooperation officials also knew that every colony built was going to lose money, but no one could wait until the colonies turned profitable. If they decided to wait until Mars turned profitable, their own enterprises would have already lost at the starting point.

Even just for a possibility, sending people their first to claim land was the best starting point!

In contrast, Celestial Trade was extremely lucky as the company entered the Mars colonization era one century in advance. Without a single competitor, there was enough time and space to rationally develop the entire “market”.

“So, the major forces did not just built a research station on Mars? They built dozens of them? And each scientific research station is actually a colony in disguise?” Jiang Chen asked.

“Yes.” Lilith nodded. “That’s been the case since the early twenty-second century.”

“Why are there no news from all the colonies?” Lin Lin, who was sitting next to Jiang Chen, frowned. She muttered in confusion, “In my memory, there were no reports of colonies at all.”

“This is very easy to explain. You were born in the fifties, right?” Lilith asked.

“Yes.” Lin Lin nodded.

“Then you should have heard of the economic crisis of 2150.”

Even Jiang Chen nodded this time.

When he first arrived in the apocalypse, he learned about the economic crisis that was generally considered to be the cause of the World War in 2171. (Note: if you forget the plot, you can go back to Chapter 2)

“In the recorded history in my database, as of 2149, the number of scientific research stations for Pan-Asia Cooperation had reached 41, and for the Soviet Union and NATO, the numbers were similar. When the economic crisis happened, countries were unable to sustain those bottomless pits. Therefore, the “Houston Convention” was signed in 2150. In addition to outlining zones on Mars, it also reduced its respective colonies… or scientific research stations to 15.

“However, this doesn’t explain why I haven’t heard of those scientific research stations at all?” Lin Lin said and held the same frown on her face.

“Of course it can explain it,” Lilith looked at Jiang Chen, “because it involved another problem about the colonies. It was also related to the Gaia civilization you mentioned before.”