Chapter 3 - Greed
IRISS mapped the Martian sub-surface from 2029 to 2031, sending multi-dimensional information (including 3-D) on the composition and geology of the entire planet, from the highest peak of 21 kilometers at Olympus Mons to the deepest Hellas Impact Crater at 8 kilometers, going further down, 21 kilometers below the surface crust. IRISS (International Reconnaissance in Solar System), a Mars orbiter, could measure everything on the Martian surface within a 50 kilometer vertical band: gas, rock, minerals, life – basically, every atom and molecule on the planet's surface – above and below, producing a monster data stream, that only quantum-matrix signaling can send to Earth quickly enough. The destination of this data – Jiuquan Space Centre in China, home to the biggest processing centre ever built. The transmission window is only 2 months and represents the biggest data transfer in human history (at least for now) and likely, the biggest prospecting operation in our solar system since the Klondike gold rush, once the information has been compiled. The former People's Republic of China, now, the Federation of China, plan to exploit Mars with mining vessels by 2050. Our planet's precious metals, minerals and Rare Earths will be exhausted by 2075, so the world's largest economy is turning to the exploitation of Mars to satisfy human demand for technology, now largely based on advanced quantum-quark electronics. The corporations, of course, are more than willing to supply anything that's possible to consumers, even if we have to take it from another world.
So much detail about Mars was collected, it took 5 years to compile all the data into recognizable chemical compounds, even with the help of sophisticated algorithms, x-quantum computers and 10,000 human operators. Completed now, China has its eye on all the precious metals, minerals and Rare Earths (on Mars) it needs for the next 500 years and a few new materials too, as yet undiscovered on Earth.
Interplanetary Mining Corporation (IPMC), based in Shenzhen, China, already have a crewed tunneling expedition on the surface since 2040, testing a number of automated drills, mineral processors and launchers, ready for deployment within the next two years to the Martian surface, at which point the humans will leave. These days, machines are so sophisticated, they maintain themselves using directed nano-technology and onboard manufacturing tools, each tiny component being self-powered (using a forced quantum heat pump, later to be named Bit-Power) and networked with all the other components in the machine, using quantum entanglement. Modern machines and devices are so complex at a sub-atomic level, they rely totally on materials, that are rare and difficult to find on Earth, but common on Mars.