Prominence

The Prominence was a Japanese Mars expedition and research ship, which served as the plot device for how the Pandora Box was found and got to Earth. The Prominence was developed by the Institute of Space Engineering Technology aka INSET for the purpose of a manned mission to Mars. The ship was launched sometime in 2005/2006 (given the fact the fastest time from the shortest distance to reach Mars from Earth is 1.6 years) and arrived on the red planet at some point in 2007.

Upon deploying its lander and the crew arriving and surveying the Martian surface and caves, one of the astronauts of the mission found an alien artifact which would later be dubbed the Pandora Box. After the mission ended, the Prominence returned to Earth and returned the astronauts home to Japan. The mission director of INSET celebrated the crew's historic find with a party. However, this party and the Pandora Box being there would lead to the events of the Skywall Disaster.