Ares Project

The Ares Project was a terraforming experiment that used the ravine as a testing grounds. It involved the use of fat water to enhance Martian ice to melt and expand to flood potential Martian oceans.
It began when Valfar invented fat water, a subatomically modified type of water that takes up three times the space as regular water and cannot freeze. The application in terraforming would be that all the ice on Mars could turned liquid and there would be three times as much of it. Fat water can form a chain reaction given the proper incentive, so Valfar calculated the amount necessary to start the reaction on a global scale.
The company that owned Jamaica and thus Valfar's research also owned the Ares Corporation, so they combined the two and sent them to Kvitøya, an island in their ownership that best matched the conditions on Mars. This was unwise in Valfar's opinion, as an Island is surrounded by the ocean. The problem being, if the chain reaction ever happened to Earth's ocean, the planet would flood completely over. So Valfar pestered Snorri constantly about the fail-safes to see that it could never happen on Earth.
Enough fat water was created to sustain a global reaction on Mars (or Earth) and the YGDR S/L power plant was built to deliver the necessary kick to start that reaction. The company soon ran low on funds however, and could only afford to send the water to Mars, not the power plant. In a rare moment of corporate wisdom, for the safety of Earth the company went out of business sending the water to Mars where it could do no harm, and perhaps someday receive its second half under another company's budget.
With the company defunct, the ravine emptied save for a few people, including Snorri and Valfar, who wished to stay. A small culture survived there, at least until it was overrun by mercenaries who turned the ravine into their base. Against Valfar's obejctions, they commandeered the computer system to run their security. To ensure it would never fail due to the old system purposes, they deleted any program that could divert its attention from their new military routines, including the fail-safes.
== Behind the Scenes ==
Ares is the Greek god of war, analogous to the Roman Mars.