A desert planet is a single-biome planet on which the climate is mostly desert, with little or no natural precipitation. Desert planets are known to exist; Mars is often considered a prime example. Indeed, many terrestrial planets would be considered desert planets by this definition. However, the term is often used to refer to desert planets that remain hospitable for life.
A relatively common motif in science fiction, the concept includes both real and fictional planets, and is sometimes accompanied by elements of hydraulic despotism. Perhaps the most famous fictional examples are Arrakis, the setting for much of the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert, and Tatooine of the Star Wars universe.
Read more about Desert Planet: Habitability
Famous quotes containing the words desert and/or planet:
“Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. Once and again one of those great influences which we call a Cause arises in the midst of a nation. Men of strenuous minds and high ideals come forward.... The attacks they sustain are more cruel than the collision of arms.... Friends desert and despise them.... They stand alone and oftentimes are made bitter by their isolation.... They are doing nothing less than defy public opinion, and shall they convert it by blows. Yes.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“Are there no Moravians in the Moon, that not a missionary has yet visited this poor pagan planet of ours, to civilize civilization and christianize Christendom?”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)