Mars

Author: Ben Bova

This was the first in what became Ben Bovas huge and on-going Grand Tour sequence of novels detailing human exploration of the Solar System. In this novel six men and women have just a few months to explore Mars and prove that it is worth another mission. One of them, Navajo geologist Jamie Waterman, discovers microbial life on the planet, and then stumbles upon the ruins of a cliff dwelling.Within the larger picture of the series, the story of Mars is continued in two further volumes, +, in which further exploration is hampered by the actions of a dystopian earth government. A further volume, Mars, Inc, is an alternate history of the exploration of Mars, as sponsored by private enterprise rather than the government.Bova is a rather old fashioned hard sf writer, so what you get in this novel is solid and worthy but doesnt really have the flair of contemporary novels like Red Mars or Red Dust; nevertheless, as a tour of Mars the book really works.