Earth was dying all throughout the 21st century, all the while humans were conquering a new frontier. Mars was new, unburdened by humanities past mistakes, ripe with it's future opportunities. The two planets coexisted for a time, one blossoming from the other's decay. Mars drew in ambitious, reckless explorers and paragons, ready to carve out a hopeful future for all who came after them. And they did.
A new compound was found on Mars – Infilium. In all fields, from human DNA to quantum computing, Infilium proved to be a revolutionary discovery. Sadly, due to it's volatile nature it could never be delivered to Earth, former dooming the planet.