Jamie Waterman, a Native American geologist, is chosen at the last minute for the first manned exploration of the planet Mars. On touchdown, he is so overwhelmed with the emotion of the moment that he utters a Navajo phrase instead of the political statement he is supposed to read. This sets off a chain reaction among the leaders and politicians on Earth. Thus starts Bova’s sprawling space opera. The expedition, seen from Jamie’s point of view, is really the protagonist here. The story is filled with lots of characters of different nationalities and there’s plenty of political intrigue. Of course, there are obstacles to overcome: a meteor almost destroys the lab, the doctor neglects his duty and nearly kills them all, crew members come down with mysterious “Martian flu,” and through it all is the never-ending search for evidence of life on this planet. Bova has done extensive research and his descriptions of Mars and the conditions under which the study is conducted are very plausible. All in all, a satisfying story.  The novel is a part of currently 17-volume series “Grand Tour” that presents the theme of exploration and colonization of the Solar System by humans. Written in 1992 “Mars”, according to the internal in-universe chronology, stands 4th in the series and is immediately continued by “Return to Mars” published in 1999 which stands 7th. Events depicted in “Moonrise” (1996) and “Moonwar” (1998) take place between those of “Mars” and “Return to Mars” and are loosely related to them

Former astronaut Paul Stavenger is driven by his vision of colonizing space. His dream becomes a reality with the creation of a viable, flourishing, nearly self-sufficient community at Moonbase. But Paul has made an implacable enemy; one who will carry his vendetta to the frontiers of space

In ›Mars‹ schilderte Ben Bova die abenteuerliche Geschichte der ersten bemannten Mars-Mission. Nun, einige Jahre später, kehrt ein Team aus Astronauten, Ingenieuren und Wissenschaftlern zum sagenumwobenen Roten Planeten zurück. Geleitet wird diese Expedition von Jamie Waterman, der bereits auf der ersten Reise dabei war und auf dem Mars Spuren intelligenten Lebens entdeckt hatte. Er hat es sich zu seiner Aufgabe gemacht, das Geheimnis unseres Nachbarplaneten zu lüften, und er würde alles dafür hergeben — selbst sein eigenes Leben

The sequel to “Moonrise”. Douglas Stavenger and his dedicated team of scientists are determined to defend their life’s work, but technology-hating factions on Earth want to close the flourishing space colony, Moonbase. Can a combination of military defence and political wisdom save the colony?

Once, Dan Radolph was one of the richest men on Earth, but now that the planet is spiraling into environmental disaster, he must look to the wealth of the stars to save the economy. Martin Humphries is also aware of the potential of space-based industry, but he does not care if Earth perishes

Brimming with memorable characters and human conflict, rugged high-tech prospectors and boardroom betrayals, The Rock Rats continues the tale of our near-future struggle over the incalculable wealth of the Asteroid Belt. Before it ends, many will die—and many will achieve more than they ever dreamed was possible

When corporations go to war, standard business practice goes out the window. Astro Corporation is led by indomitable Texan Pancho Lane, Humphries Space Systems by the rich and ruthless Martin Humphries, and their fight is over nothing less than resources of the Asteroid Belt itself. As fighting escalates, the lines between commerce and politics, boardroom and bedroom, blur—and the keys to victory will include physics, nanotechnology, and cold, hard cash. As they fight it out, the lives of thousands of innocents hang in the balance, including the rock rats, who make their living off the asteroids, and the inhabitants of Selene City on Earth’s moon. As if matters weren’t complicated enough, the shadowy Yamagata corporation sets its sights on taking advantage of other people’s quarrels, and space pirate Lars Fuchs decides it’s time to make good on his own personal vendetta… It’s a breakneck finale that can end only in earth’s salvation—or the annihilation of all that humankind has ever accomplished in space

Die   nicht   allzu   ferne   Zukunft:   Christliche   und   islamische  Fundamentalisten haben einen so großen politischen Einfluss  auf   der   Erde   erlangt,   dass   Wissenschaftler   und   andere  »Säkularisierte«  gezwungen sind, den Planeten zu verlassen.  Im   Mondorbit   ist   für   sie   ein   riesiges   Habitat,   die  Goddard,  entstanden, das mehr als zehntausend Menschen aufnehmen  kann   und   zum   Saturn   gesteuert   werden   soll,   um   dort   als  Außenposten der menschlichen Zivilisation und als Basis für  die   Erforschung   des   Ringplaneten   und   seiner   Monde   zu  dienen. Doch niemand ahnt, dass eine Gruppe von religiösen  Fanatikern mit an Bord ist, die nur ein Ziel kennt: Die Macht  im Habitat zu  übernehmen, die Wissenschaftler kaltzustellen  und die Ungläubigen zu bekehren — und sei es mit Gewalt. Als  die Goddard den Jupiter passiert, sehen sie die Zeit gekommen,  um loszuschlagen…

A tale of revenge and technological endeavor set on our solar system’s most desolate stage. The closest planet to the sun, Mercury is a rocky, barren, heat-scorched world. The planet’s surface faces the sun for nearly sixty earth days at a time, and the only places that stay cool are the ice caches at Mercury’s poles

2095. After long months of travel, the gigantic colony ship Goddard has at last made orbit around Saturn, carrying a population of more than of 10,000 dissidents, rebels, extremists, and visionaries seeking a new life. Among Goddard’s missions is the study of Titan, which offers the tantalizing possibility that life may exist amid its windswept islands and chill black seas. When the exploration vessel Titan Alpha mysteriously fails after reaching the moon’s surface, long buried tensions surface among the colonists. Eduoard Urbain, the mission’s chief scientist, is wracked with anxiety and despair as he sees his life’s work unravel. Malcolm Eberly, Goddard’s chief administrator, takes ruthless measures to hold onto power as a rash of suspicious incidents threaten to undermine his authority. Holly Lane, the colony’s human-resources director, must confront the station’s powerful leaders to protect the lives of its people. And retired astronaut Manuel Gaeta is forced to risk his life in a last, desperate attempt to salvage the lost probe. Torn by intrigue, sabotage, and an awesome discovery that could threaten human space exploration, a handful of courageous men and women must fight for the survival of their colony, and for the destiny of the human race

In the wake of the Asteroid Wars that tore across the solar system, Victor Zacharius makes his living running the ore-carrier Syracuse. With his wife and two children he plies the Asteroid Belt, hauling whatever cargo can be found. When the Syracuse stumbles into the middle of a military attack on the habitat Chrysalis, Victor flees in a control pod to draw the attacker’s attention away from his family. Now, as his wife and children plunge into the far deeps of space, Victor has been rescued by the seductive Cheena Madagascar. He must do her bidding if he’s to have a prayer of ever seeing his family again. Elverda Apacheta is the solar system’s greatest sculptor. The cyborg Dorn was formerly Dorik Harbin, the ruthless military commander responsible for the attack on Chrysalis. Their lives and destinies have been linked by their joint discovery of the alien artifact that had, earlier, profoundly affected industrialist Martin Humphries. Similarly transformed by the artifact’s mysterious powers, Apacheta and Dorn now prowl the Belt, determined to find the bodies of the many victims of Harbin’s atrocities so that they can be given proper burials. Kao Yuan is the captain of Viking, owned by Martin Humphries, who’s determined to kill Dorn and Elverda because they know too much about the artifact and its power over him. But Viking’s second-in-command, Tamara Vishinsky, appears to have the real power on board ship. When Viking catches up to Apacheta and Dorn, their confrontation begins a series of events involving them, the Zacharius family, and Martin Humphries and his son in the transformation of the human solar system…

Jamie Waterman discovered the cliff dwelling on Mars, and the fact that an intelligent race lived on the red planet sixty-five million years ago, only to be driven into extinction by the crash of a giant meteor. Now the exploration of Mars is itself under threat of extinction, as the ultraconservative New Morality movement gains control of the U.S. government and cuts off all funding for the Mars program.Meanwhile, Carter Carleton, an anthropologist who was driven from his university post by unproven charges of rape, has started to dig up the remains of a Martian village. Science and politics clash on two worlds as Jamie desperately tries to save the Mars program and uncover who the vanished Martians were

In Ben Bova’s novel JUPITER, physicist Grant Archer led an expedition into Jupiter’s hostile planet-wide ocean, attempting to study the unusual and massive creatures that call the planet their home. Unprepared for the hostile environment and crushing pressures, Grant’s team faced certain death as their ship malfunctioned and slowly sank to the planet’s depths. However one of Jupiter’s native creatures—a city-sized leviathan—saved the doomed ship. This creature’s act convinced Grant that the huge creatures were intelligent, but he lacked scientific proof. Now, several years later, Grant prepares a new expedition to prove once and for all that the huge creatures are intelligent. The new team faces dangers from both the hostile environment and from humans who will do anything to make sure the mission is a failure, even if it means murdering the entire crew

Ben Bova, author of Earth, continues his exploration of the future of a human-settled Solar System with the science fiction action adventure Uranus, the first of his Outer Planets trilogy. On a privately financed orbital habitat above the planet Uranus, political idealism conflicts with pragmatic, and illegal, methods of financing. Add a scientist who has funding to launch a probe deep into Uranus’s ocean depths to search for signs of life, and you have a three-way struggle for control. Humans can’t live on the gas giants, making instead a life in orbit. Kyle Umber, a religious idealist, has built Haven, a sanctuary above the distant planet Uranus. He invites “the tired, the sick, the poor” of Earth to his orbital retreat where men and women can find spiritual peace and refuge from the world. The billionaire who financed Haven, however, has his own designs: beyond the reach of the laws of the inner planets Haven could become the center for an interplanetary web of narcotics, prostitution, even hunting human prey. Meanwhile a scientist has gotten funding from the Inner Planets to drop remote probes into the “oceans” of Uranus, in search of life. He brings money and prestige, but he also brings journalists and government oversight to Haven. And they can’t have that