Next Sunday A.D., a joint multinational project involving NASA, ESA, and Roscosmos results in the first manned mission to Mars being launched. The interplanetary spacecraft Ares 1 is to be crewed by six men (two Russians, two Americans, and two Europeans). However, a series of random events results in the original crew being written off and the first backup crew failing to get into a higher orbit. As a result, the second backup crew ends up being sent. While some, including the flight director, are firmly against sending the "losers," time is short (the next launch window isn't for another 4 years), and China is launching its own ship to Mars, the Millennium Boat (with only two crewmembers). Thus begins the race to Mars.
The Ares is crewed by Vyacheslav Anikeev, John Bull, Andrei Kartashov, Edward Givens Jr., Bruno Piccirilli, and Jean-Pierre Jeubin. The Millennium Boat is crewed by Hu Jun and Zhang Li.
While no official English translation exists, an unofficial one can be found here
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Not to be confused with Eric Idle's The Road to Mars.
The novel provides examples of the following tropes:
- The Big Race: The Ares and the Millennium Boat are engaged in a race to get to Mars first. National prestige is on the line. At the same time, not everyone aboard the ships shares the desire to be first at any cost. They'd much rather everyone get there and back safely (Earth is far away; out in space, all they have are each other). Piccirilli and Hu are among them. In the end, the Chinese make a gamble to get them to Mars at any cost, even if they are unable to return because of it. All they care is to claim the planet for China. Unfortunately, they fail to anticipate the unexpectedly thicker atmosphere and end up burning up on re-entry.
- Cool Ship: Both the Ares 1 and the Millennium Boat represent the pinnacle of Earth's space technology. The Ares is a collaborative design with modules from NASA, ESA, and Roscosmos, while the Boat is an ambitious all-in-one design that many thought was too underdeveloped to actually fly. Both interplanetary craft are nuclear-powered. The Ares's reactor is separated from the rest of the craft by a 30-meter beam with a massive radiation shield protecting the crew, while the Boat's reactor is internal. The Ares uses argon as propellant for the main engines and methane for maneuvering thrusters. There's also the Ares 2, a duplicate ship built as a backup. It remains in Earth's orbit for a potential rescue mission. It was originally supposed to be crewed by the backup team, but there's no one left for that.
- Discontinuity: In one chapter, we're told that Zhang Li has a daughter named Yun. Except, several chapter later, it turns out that Yun is Hu Jun's daughter. This mistake is never addressed and can probably be attributed to the two writers failing to communicate.
- Famous-Named Foreigner: Hu Jun is a real-life Chinese actor, while the name "Zhang Li" could refer to an entrepreneur or a movie director.
- Flock of Wolves: Most of the Ares crew turns out to have been sent with secret instructions from various agencies on Earth. Jeubin is the only one who's just an astronaut.
- Gainax Ending: The last chapter suggests that everything that happened wasn't the work of aliens or any Martian nanoviruses but a manifestation of humanity's collective unconscious, the so-called noosphere. There's no way to know for sure, and either explanation is just as likely.
- Iron Lady: Irina Pryahina, the flight director of the Ares mission and the head of the Russian President's Space Council. While her appointment is seen by many as a bone the President threw to the various feminist groups (especially considering the Ares crew is all-male), the crewmembers know that no one gets appointed to such a high post without being good at their job. And she is. Unfortunately, she's secretly helping the Chinese because of a week-long fling with a member of the Chinese Martian expedition.
- Manchurian Agent: Kartashov and Givens have been secretly trained for a First Contact situation, but that knowledge was blocked off until the right moment. At one point, Givens starts acting strangely and doesn't remember doing it. In the end he's revealed to be a member of the Caretaker Project, an attempt to create someone to safeguard the expedition from the Martian nanovirus and to ensure the crew's successful landing and return.
- Multinational Team: The Ares is crewed by 2 Russians, 2 Americans, a Frenchman, and an Italian - two from each participating space agency (Roscosmos, NASA, ESA). Furthermore, one of the Russians is actually a Buryat (a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia), and one of the Americans is black. After they land on Mars, they launch balloons with their nations' flags on them.
- Once-Green Mars: After going into a coma, Kartashov sees himself on what looks to be ancient Mars before the cataclysm that supposedly destroyed it. He ends up finding a boat and rowing downstream on a river with reed-like plants everywhere. Givens eventually joins him, and they nearly go over a waterfall before running into natives with spears. They're not sure if any of it is real. Eventually, though, it's revealed that Mars is still green. The red lifeless Mars we know is all part of an attempt by ancient Martian technology to keep humans from knowing the truth. Earth has been infested with sophisticated nanobots that infect humans like a virus and alter their perception of Mars. The only way to resist them is through psychotronics or an acquired immunity. The control center on Phobos has also been affecting the equipment of any probe sent to Mars. The face on Mars was an oversight by the control center. It corrected its mistake, but the inconsistency was enough for Americans and Soviets to start looking into the issue and inadvertently discover the nanobots. However, the center failed to anticipate some actions of the humans, like the crew of the Millennium Boat separating their ship and attempting a landing. While the lander burned up in the unexpectedly thick atmosphere, the ship's reactor impacted Phobos and either destroyed or severely damaged the center, causing all humans to suddenly see Mars the way it is. Or maybe not, if the Gainax Ending is to be believed. Maybe Mars really was dead all along and only became green because Homo cosmicus (humanity's collective unconscious) made it that way.
- Solar Sail: Unbeknownst to the Ares crew, there's a cutting-edge solar sail on board. When asked why they weren't told, the flight director explains that they were finalizing the formalities with the patent office on the material the sail is made of. The plan is to unfurl the sail during a solar flare while passing close to the Sun, with the resulting solar wind giving them a massive boost to acceleration, which will let the Ares beat the Millennium Boat to Mars. A mechanical error during the installation results in Kartashov leaving the shadow of the radiation shield in order to retrieve the sail winch and getting a lethal dose of radiation. Later on, we learn that Pryahina deliberately told the crew to use the sail because she intended for them to overshoot Mars.
