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:
“Three people marooned on a desert island would soon reinvent politics.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“What I like, or one of the things I like, about motoring is the sense it gives one of lighting accidentally, like a voyager who touches another planet with the tip of his toe, upon scenes which would have gone on, have always gone on, will go on, unrecorded, save for this chance glimpse. Then it seems to me I am allowed to see the heart of the world uncovered for a moment.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)