Blue Mars

On 27th June 1991 scientists working at the Arecebo radio telescope on Peurto Rico discover a very large Kuiper Belt object has been displaced and is moving into the solar system. it is designated KBO 496

By the 7th July 1991 they have established that it is 145-155km across.

By the 18th August they have established that it will enter the inner solar system in 1997. it will miss the earth and go around the sun, however due to the close pass of the sun the exit trajectory is not known.

In May 1996 it is determined that the Kuiper Belt object will miss the earth on its return trajectory. It is renamed from KBO 496 to comet Deathstar (a competition named the object - the starwars accociation wins)

As Comet Deathstar passes around the sun in early January 1997 scientists discover that the trajectory will cross Mars Orbit on 17th July 1997.

On July 4th 1997 Mars Pathfinder probe landed on Ares Vallis, in a region called Chryse Planitia on Mars.

On the afternoon of 16th July 1997 the worlds telescopes focus in on Mars.

At 9.17am 42 seconds GMT Comet Deathstar impacts Mars on the eastern flanks of Olympus Mons - the largest volcano in the solar system.

Mars Pathfinder gets a front row seat to the impact, it is destroyed 3 seconds after impact.

In September 1997 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) enters Martian orbit, the entire globe is covered in massive dust storms however the TES - the Thermal Emission Spectrometer instument on board shows a massive 750km crater on the flanks of the volcano Olympus Mons, it also shows volcanic activity around the same area.

Over the next six months MGS uses the TES to detect massive volcanic activity all over the Martian globe, it also see a global temperature increases.

In late 1999 the dust storm on Mars that has raged since the impact begins to settle out, scientists are amazed to see what has happened.