Editing Ares Prime Dome Complex (section)

=== Site selection and pre-establishment construction (2038–2047) ===
Planning for a permanent enclosed settlement on Mars accelerated after early surface mission reports confirmed that the temporary inflatable habitats employed during the First Sustained Mars Surface Missions program were unsuitable for populations exceeding a few hundred. The [[Chronology of the Aetherium Expanse#era-first-expansion|First Expansion]] Planning Commission convened a site-selection panel in 2038 CE, drawing on geological surveys, atmospheric modelling, and logistics assessments supplied by the [[Phobos Anchor Station]] transit hub. Amazonis Planitia was selected over competing proposals in the Hellas Basin and Arcadia region on the grounds of accessible subsurface ice, flat terrain suitable for rapid dome-base construction, and a site elevation that permitted efficient solar array deployment.

Chief Architect Dmitri Volkov's team designed the primary dome around a modular hexagonal pressure-panel system, in which individual panels could be replaced in situ without depressurizing the entire dome interior. Construction crews assembled the primary dome's skeletal framework using prefabricated structural elements shipped from [[Tycho Shipyards]] and ferried to the Martian surface via the [[Fusion Tug Guild of Mars]] cargo fleet. The complex was formally established in 2047 CE as the designated successor to the mission-based surface presence that had operated since 2031 CE.