Olympus Mons (you know, that place Juno decided not to go for medical attention, despite the fact that it was closer than Hyperion City?) is the name of Mars’ tallest mountain.
Which is twice as tall as Mount Everest
And just a little bit smaller around than France
Which is no mean feat, considering that Mars is the second smallest planet in the Solar system.
That’s an impressively huge mountain for such a little planet, guys.
Which leads me to suspect that Olympus Mons isn’t just a city, but a city-state. As in, an independent nation built around a single city. And canonically, Hyperion City is the largest Old Earth Colony on Mars, which means it’s even bigger.
This is why being the mayor of Hyperion City is such a big freakin’ deal. A more appropriate term might be president.
Some facts on the magnificent Olympus Mons of Mars
By now, you’ve probably seen Boston Dynamics' ATLAS, the six-foot, 330-pound humanoid robot that is part of DARPA’s robotics challenge. While this machine is one of the most advanced humanoid robots out there, it’s not exactly the type of creation you’d want to bring home to play with the dog. To be fair, it hasn’t been designed to be your buddy. Rather, top among its purposes is to assist soldiers on the battlefield and accompany first responders during disasters.
There are, however, a number of robots that may not be as capable as ATLAS, but would be more fun to see wandering around the house. Click through to learn more about the bots in the GIFs above.
This is big news for space travel if it works as hoped: “Liquid (molecular) hydrogen-oxygen used in modern rockets has an Isp of ~460s; metallic hydrogen has a theoretical Isp of 1700 s! Detailed analysis shows that such a fuel would allow single-stage rockets to enter into orbit or carry economical payloads to the moon.”
