Mars is a small world with a big reputation. This mysterious planet – with volcanoes that dwarf Mount Everest, a canyon system that would stretch fully across the USA and curious landscapes that may support life – has fascinated us for centuries. In the most up-to-date account available of the elusive ‘Red Planet’, Stephen James O’Meara follows our longstanding love affair with this bewildering world, from the musings of humanity’s first stargazers, to the imaginings of science-fiction writers and film-makers, to the latest images and discoveries from orbiting spacecraft and robotic rovers. The book also reviews plans for piloted missions to Mars, and what it will take for those missions to succeed.

"Presenting the red planet in both fact as well as the many fictions in which it has been featured, and including some of the most up-to-date discoveries from the information collected by the Curiosity rover, this forthcoming book should be of interest to both dedicated astronomers as well as the simply martially curious alike."-- "Well-Read Naturalist"

Stephen James O’Meara is an award-winning astronomer and author/co-author of more than a dozen books, including the third edition of Oxford’s A Dictionary of Space Exploration (2018). He is a columnist and editor for Astronomy magazine, and former associate editor of GeminiFocus and Sky & Telescope magazines. Asteroid 3637 is named O’Meara in his honour.