Nolan, who has worked as an engineering specialist for ESA, provides a chapter on each of the major Mars missions of recent years, from Pathfinder to the Mars Exploration Rovers. Elsewhere he covers the early history of observation and exploration, Martian geology, the search for water and life, and Mars as a destination for the human race.

Nolan sees Mars as a test-bed for many fundamental ideas in astrobiology. As he says, the discovery of just primitive organism on Mars, alive or fossilised, would vindicate a modern belief that life is commonplace in the Universe. Environmentally, Mars is the most Earth-like planet we know. Given that life began so quickly on our world, it would be surprising if a parallel genesis had not occurred on our nearest neighbour. Nolan outlines the roadmap we’ll need to follow in order to settle this issue: from aerial and roving robots to the first manned missions, he charts what may be the next quarter-century of Martian adventure. “ by David Darling

· “Astronomy & Space” Magazine Review, January 2009:

“For the first time, there is political endorsement on both sides of the Atlantic for a long-term program for Mars culminating with a human mission” according to Kevin Nolan, a physics lecturer at the Institute of Technology in Tallaght, Co. Dublin, in his recently released book Mars – a cosmic stepping stone. Nolan firmly believes that this plan to put humans on Mars within the next forty years is a real commitment, and not simply an unrealistic pipe-dream or the rantings of some half-crazed politicians. And I will tell you this for nothing, Kevin Nolan knows his marbles, as we would say in this part of the world. I was absolutely mesmerized with the amount of relevant and accurate detail that he manages to squeeze into less than 400 pages of lively text, and this well supported by dozens of crisp illustrations.

This book comes from the stable of Copernicus Books, a division of Springer Praxis, who have released a number of space exploration books recently in a new and very attractive format. When you get to my stage of maturity, you appreciate a book with a generous print size, on a good quality paper and displaying considerable care in its graphic design. The index is quite comprehensive too, with a handy two pages of acronyms at the front, and a sensible reading list and page or more of useful web sites at the back. The centre of the book contains over fifty colour prints of varying sizes, but generally a half page – these are supported by over a hundred fairly sharp black and white photos.

The early chapters of this book deal, not surprisingly, with the history of our involvement with Mars over the centuries. It was the path of Mars through the heavens, as meticulously recorded by Tycho Brahe over four hundred years ago, that gave Johannes Kepler the clue to the elliptical nature of its orbit, leading ultimately to Newton’s discovery of the law of gravitation and our present notion of the Sun centred Solar System. Interestingly, Kepler was among the earliest science fiction writers and originated the idea of Martians as green bug-eyed tentacled monsters.

Humans have been convinced for centuries that there is life on Mars. Nolan discusses the development of these ideas, and the importance of Mars as a model for how human life evolved on Earth. The various space agencies around the world, especially NASA and the ESA, are working together in what the author describes as a coordinated “five-phased strategy for the exploration of Mars”. This new strategy draws on the considerable experience already gained from earlier missions like Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, Odyssey, Express, Spirit and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – “all of which have delivered unprecedented quantities and diversity of data”. These missions are described in great detail in the core of the book.

The current era of Mars exploration really began in July 1997 with Pathfinder and the deployment of a surface rover. The exploration program has already been in operation for a decade and will continue for several decades more. The program stages are discussed in some detail by Nolan:

Phase 1 – Orbital and aerial reconnaissance

Phase 2 – Lander or rover reconnaissance

Phase 3 – Robotic Biological Reconnaissance

Phase 4 – Sample Return from Mars surface, subsurface and atmosphere.

Phase 5 – Human exploration of Mars (2040?)

“At last, the nature and history of Mars is beginning to reveal itself”. Exit the Martian invasion that caused such panic in America in 1938 when Orson Wells broadcast the War of the Worlds on radio as if it were actually happening, and thousands fled their homes in panic! Enter “the New Mars” – a laboratory for exploring our young Earth and the emergence of life here. Contamination from samples brought back or from human explorers returning from Mars is a huge issue and receives considerable coverage in this book.

This book concludes with a penultimate chapter on a human mission to Mars, and a final chapter on our life in the Universe. “Mars exploration is about us, not just about Mars”, according to Nolan. The adventure is certainly hotting, up with new expeditions on the drawing boards and already in an advanced stage of preparation. There is no doubt that in the coming decades ‘a Mars a day will help you work, rest and play’ with every promise of a plethora of exciting news from ‘the red planet’ – and what’s more, it won’t put an ounce on your waistline. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the development of life on Earth and on human plans to populate the Universe. Gerard Mc Mahon