[cbsks]

The sci-fi book practically writes itself. A wealthy entrepreneur puts an asteroid in motion to move mars and sets up a long term foundation to keep it operational for the next 40,000 years. In conjunction with the orbital adjustment, terraforming begins and the first enclosed permanent settlements are founded. After the orbital changes are complete, the new planet is open for human development and is renamed from Mars to Musk, after its visionary founder.

[coldtea]

Of course things go horribly wrong, and Mars crashes into earth. The moral of the story being if you don't have ultra-superior technology and experience doing the same thing outside of your own solar system and checking the results to adjust your procedures, then nudging things and seeing what happens at planetary scale is playing with fire.

[OneDonOne]

I thought it was the short stories "Sunken Gardens" and "Cicada Queen" by Bruce Sterling from his Shaper/Mechanist universe.

Oh well.

[justinjlynn]

Is there any better embodiment of entrepreneurial capitalism than stealthily appropriating an entire planet, privatising it, and then naming it after one's self? ... I'd be hard pressed to think of one.