Mars Rays- erred, mistranslated, or yet to be explanied?

[degwin_zabi]

Allow to me ask a question to those most well informed in the AGE universe on whether the Mars Rays plotline was poorly researched, mistranslated, or has yet to go into detail. Both speculation and fact are welcome, but no fighting.

What is Mars Rays, you ask? According to what I've read, it's a rare phenomenon occurring from Martian magnetic storms that resulted in deadly diseases that killed off a fifth of the colonial population who would form the Vagan nation and was later cured at the end.

Not a bad Freudian excuse, reminds me of Killzone's Helghast even. Unfortunately, real world science informs us that Mars lacks a magnetosphere and that solar radiation and low gravity are the main challenges in colonizing the planet.

However, I believe at least one solution to solving the problem without a bothersome retcon exists. Right now, it's my own theory, and I'm no university graded scientist yet, but it might work.

While the Mars Birthday colonists did indeed lack the technology to successfully terraform the surface, perhaps they were able to magnetize that red ball of unexplored ground in an attempt to make life there easier, but it proved flawed and gathered up both solar radiation and native germs in it's storms that in turn resulted in the Mars Rays.

I know it's a bit uncertain, but it's a suggestion. Thoughts?

[E08]

The explanation for Mars Ray was given in one of the side stories, Exa-Log (chapter 9, the one with Gafran Mars Feather). I'm not sure if it is scientifically accurate or whether it contradicts anything mentioned in the anime. Here is the translation (but beware since this is a translation of a chinese fan translation, there maybe errors):

During the terra-forming of Mars, one of the projects unexpectedly produced harmful particles from the surface, which then caused the disease known as ‘Mars Ray’. The migration plan was thus badly affected and the colonists were forced to withdraw to the low orbit satellite, Phobos. However, with the help of the Martian magnetic storm, these particles spread to the exosphere and some parts of space, allowing them to reach the living quarters of Phobos.

The particles are sub-nanometre in size and cannot be eliminated completely using magnetic or plasma filters. As such, the colonists were forced to live in conditions where small amounts of the harmful particles were always present. Once inside human’s body, the particles cannot be removed and can cause chronic respiratory diseases and circulatory problems. Although the use of chelating agents can alleviate the symptoms, there is no cure for the disease. 20% of the colonists were affected and children were especially susceptible; the disease was the number 1 cause of death in Phobos. While suspended in the atmosphere, these particles interact with the plasma in solar wind and produce aurora-like effects. This was the reason why the colonists named the disease ‘Mars Ray’.

Due to Mars' weak magnetic field, once a solar flare occurs, the planet's surface will be hit by the magnetic solar wind and the associated plasma. The powerful magnetic storm will then cause serve sandstorm.

The ‘Everse System’ is designed to alleviate this problem. When there is a high possibility of a large solar wind hitting Mars, several of the MS with the Everse System will assemble to create a powerful magnetic field, weakening the effects of the solar wind and suppressing the formation of large scale magnetic storms.

Here's the link to the japanese scan for anyone interested: http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/gun ... 0226193459

[Hyakushiki]

You could keep things simple by saying Mars Rays is just ionizing radiation bombarding the surface and the initial settlement lacked adequate shielding to protect the colonists, perhaps due to cutting corners on the project. Diseases caused by Mars Rays are as a result of cellular damage due to long term radiation exposure, Birth defects, weakened immune systems, various cancers, shorten life spans are common and higher rates than Earth-born humans. As a consequence, the number of Vegans developing X-Rounder abilities has increased dramatically explaining why X-Rounders based control systems are more commonplace in their Mobile Suits.

[degwin_zabi]

The explanation for Mars Ray was given in one of the side stories, Exa-Log (chapter 9, the one with Gafran Mars Feather). I'm not sure if it is scientifically accurate or whether it contradicts anything mentioned in the anime. Here is the translation (but beware since this is a translation of a chinese fan translation, there maybe errors):

During the terra-forming of Mars, one of the projects unexpectedly produced harmful particles from the surface, which then caused the disease known as ‘Mars Ray’. The migration plan was thus badly affected and the colonists were forced to withdraw to the low orbit satellite, Phobos. However, with the help of the Martian magnetic storm, these particles spread to the exosphere and some parts of space, allowing them to reach the living quarters of Phobos.

The particles are sub-nanometre in size and cannot be eliminated completely using magnetic or plasma filters. As such, the colonists were forced to live in conditions where small amounts of the harmful particles were always present. Once inside human’s body, the particles cannot be removed and can cause chronic respiratory diseases and circulatory problems. Although the use of chelating agents can alleviate the symptoms, there is no cure for the disease. 20% of the colonists were affected and children were especially susceptible; the disease was the number 1 cause of death in Phobos. While suspended in the atmosphere, these particles interact with the plasma in solar wind and produce aurora-like effects. This was the reason why the colonists named the disease ‘Mars Ray’.

Due to Mars' weak magnetic field, once a solar flare occurs, the planet's surface will be hit by the magnetic solar wind and the associated plasma. The powerful magnetic storm will then cause serve sandstorm.

The ‘Everse System’ is designed to alleviate this problem. When there is a high possibility of a large solar wind hitting Mars, several of the MS with the Everse System will assemble to create a powerful magnetic field, weakening the effects of the solar wind and suppressing the formation of large scale magnetic storms.

Here's the link to the japanese scan for anyone interested: http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/gun ... 0226193459

That makes sense. Thanks for the information.

[monster]

So the disease is named after the way the particles that cause the disease interact with the atmosphere while the particles themselves are left unnamed? Unless it's an error based on that translation, I don't understand the rationale for this.

[latenlazy]

The explanation makes it sound like a form of heavy metal poisoning.

[Arbiter GUNDAM]

The explanation for Mars Ray was given in one of the side stories, Exa-Log (chapter 9, the one with Gafran Mars Feather).

*snort* Of course! Certainly it would have been much too hard to put that little tidbit into the actual damn show.