Novan The term " Novan " was used to describe a group of Human colonist s who settled the planet Terra Nova and their descendants . The term was applied to these colonists in much the same way the term Martian was applied to those living on Mars . The Terra Nova colony was the first Human colony outside the Sol system , founded in 2078 by the after a nine - year flight from Earth . The Novans were successful in establishing a fully - functioning community on a world in deep space so a second ship of colonists headed to Terra Nova was planned . The Novans were not interested in sharing their home they had struggled to build . Led by a man named Mark Logan , the situation with Earth became severely strained , with Logan transmitting threats of violence upon any ships that would arrive in orbit of his planet . This was the last message received from Novans . Earth lost contact with them , and never launched a ship to investigate because of limited resources . The fate of the Novans remained a mystery . In 2151 , the Earth starship visited Terra Nova to discover the whereabouts of the apparently missing colony . They discovered the irradiated remains of the colony , and it was determined that the colony had been destroyed by an asteroid strike , which had scattered radioactive debris over the northern hemisphere . The Novans that survived the asteroid strike took refuge in underground caverns in order to avoid the radiation on the surface . They believed that Earth had attacked them with " poison rain " because they weren ' t willing to share their home . This belief was passed on to the next generations . The Novans considered Earth , and Humans , their enemy , and eventually had forgot or denied the idea their Human identity . When a landing party descended on the planet , Novan warriors attacked the " Human " intruders . Eventually , the " Enterprise " crew was able to gain the trust of the Novans , convincing them that Earth was not responsible for destroying the original colony . As the underground water supply the Novans used to survive had slowly become contaminated by the surface radiation , the Novan population was eventually relocated to a continent on the southern hemisphere that was unaffected by the fallout from the asteroid strike . ( ) Speech . The Novans had developed some special slang or expressions . " Overside " was the name of the planet ' s surface ; while " Underside " were the underground caverns , their contemporary dwelling ; they referred the " Enterprise " as a " Skyship " . To refer to hunger they used an expression such as " Hollow Stomach " ; the ancestors were referred as " Before Families " ; the radioactive devastation caused by the meteor was remembered as " Poison Rain " . Other terms were meaningful in the context of their cave - dwelling ; they referred to to thought and mind as " path " and / or " tracks " , and lies were called " shale " , after the form of rock . When Jamin wanted no more to see the colonists ' portraits and photographs on the viewscreen , he told Archer to " bury his drawings " . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Hair Designer Michael Moore used colored hair conditioner to simulate mud that supposedly packed the Novans ' hair . Their hairstyles turned out be one of Moore ' s favorites from the first three seasons of . ( ) A series of graves commemorating Novan children was scripted to appear in " Terra Nova " . However , these graves aren ' t included in the final version of the episode .