Previously known as Project Catamaran, Ares One was a mission to make contact with the Traveler on Mars.

The project began in response to the sudden and unexpected arrival of the Traveler.¹ As the Traveler moved throughout the solar system to terraform Jupiter’s moons, Mercury, and Venus, humanity began to worry about where “Moon X” would appear next.²

When the scientist Evie Calumet determined a way to predict the Traveler’s movements a multinational crew was organized to intercept it on Mars.³ This crew consisted of Jacob Hardy, Evie Calumet, Ulysses Qiao, and M. Mihaylova.⁴ Qiao served as navigator, Hardy as the pilot, and Mihaylova as constructor of the ship’s AI; Evie was a theoretical physicist that also had some environmental knowledge.¹⁵

While a part of the Project Catamaran, Mihaylova developed an artificial intelligence that she codenamed “R.”⁶ This AI is heavily implied to be Rasputin.⁷ Evie began requesting access to R’s entire code, something that Mihaylova refused to give in fear that Evie would discover R’s rapid advancements.⁶ Qiao, who had his own access codes to R, gave them to Evie in an attempt to solve the conflict.⁸ Three days before the launch of Ares One, Evie went to Mihaylova with the data she discovered, concerned about R’s assessments of the crew members.⁹

Evie died the day of the launch due to an accident involving an electrical fire, weak sprinkler, and wet staircase.⁵ Her death may not have been an accident, as Mihaylova had mentioned that disaster may occur should Evie learn R’s true nature.⁶ The launch date was pushed back by one day, and the project was renamed Ares One; additionally, the crew members were armed. The mission continued, however, and Qiao, Hardy, and Mihaylova all traveled to Mars to successfully make contact with the Traveler.¹⁰

Ares One’s contact with the Traveler marked the beginning of humanity’s Golden Age, which was characterized by rapid scientific advancement as well as an increase in human lifespan.¹¹¹² Jacob Hardy went on to become a mathematician studying the nature of Light.¹³