Marooned on Mars was commissioned[citation needed] as one of the first five volumes in Winston Science Fiction, a series of 35 novels published in the 1950s for a readership of teen-aged boys. The typical protagonist in these books was a boy in his late teens who was proficient in the art of electronics, a hobby that was easily available to the readers.
The plot device that makes the story possible is the use of nuclear rockets drawing their power from "cans of plutonium" and using an acidic liquid propellant. Such rockets make space travel seem to work on a level similar to that of aviation in the late 1920s, when cross-country flights were fairly common and transoceanic flights were just beginning to be made. In the story flights between Earth and the Moon are common and the first interplanetary flight is being flown.
In the foreword, "Tomorrow’s World", the author comments on how the development of liquid-fueled rockets points to missions to the Moon and establishment of a lunar base in the near future. Then he points to Mars as the next obvious step in the exploration of the solar system. He mentions the possibility of life on Mars, recapping what astronomers knew about Mars in 1952, and speculates on what explorers, like those in his story, will find.
After spending two weeks on Earth for testing, Chuck Svenson returns home to the Moon to prepare for his part in the first expedition to Mars, as the ship's radar operator and communications technician. Jeff Foldingchair pilots the small, fast rocket ship that was sent to pick Chuck up from the spaceport high in the Andes. While they wait to take off Jeff receives a message telling him that the Mars expedition's take-off date has been moved up to enable the ship to avoid a flock of meteors that lunar radar has detected.
Although Jeff seems perturbed by the message, the full meaning of it does not register with Chuck until they land on the Moon: the Mars-bound rocket is now scheduled to blast off the day before Chuck's eighteenth birthday, which means that he cannot go. In spite of everything Governor Braithwaite can do, Chuck has been replaced on rocket ship Eros by a slightly older man, Lewis Wong.
Acting on hints from Jeff, Chuck stows away on Eros, hiding in the section holding the ship's hydroponic gardens. With its six-man crew and one stowaway on board, the ship blasts off from the Moon and the pilot Nat Rothman quickly puts it onto a Hohmann transfer orbit that will take the expedition to Mars. All too quickly Chuck is discovered by the ship's engineer, Richard Steele, and taken to the ship's captain and the expedition's leader, Miles Vance. Officially Chuck is under arrest and Vance chides him for taking one-seventh of each of the other men's supplies. Unofficially, though, every member of the crew is delighted with the stunt and even the people on the Moon and Earth find cause to cheer. The celebratory atmosphere does not last long.
As Eros passes in front of the flock of meteors that lunar radar had spotted, it runs into what the lunar radar could not see – a cloud of much smaller particles surrounding the larger pieces of space debris. Two of the particles, pebbles smaller than peas, hit the ship and penetrate it. The second one goes through the ship's electronic controls and damages them. Now Chuck and Lewis will spend the rest of the trip to Mars repairing them.
The repair job is complicated by the discovery of an unknown component in the wreckage of the control system. It had been inserted by an engineer who died in an auto accident before he could provide proper documentation for the device. Chuck and Lewis have to figure out how it works, repair it, and then calibrate it before they can land on Mars.
After making two attempts, in which he nearly loses control of the ship, Rothman brings the ship down on the Martian surface on the third attempt only to have one of the landing legs give way and leave the ship to fall over onto its side. By luck everyone survives the crash and Dr. Paul Sokolsky has little to do but tend to minor cuts and abrasions. After checking the damage and making some urgent repairs they discover that they have ninety days in which to make major repairs that Steele estimates will take five to six months.
Before they get down to the task of getting the ship ready to return to Earth, the men take a break. Dr. Sokolsky discovers plants, which explains why the thin atmosphere contains oxygen: they can replace the tanks on their spacesuits with battery-operated compressors and spend more time outside the ship. They also discover ruins and artwork depicting humanoid Martians, apparently long gone. It takes them a week to get the ship lifted just enough that they can begin repairing the broken structure well enough to lift the ship fully upright and prepare for take-off.
As a means of boosting morale, Chuck and Dr. Sokolsky are sent on a two-day hike to check out one of the canals, finding that it is actually a vine-like plant growing in a broad band across the planet's surface. On the way they catch glimpses of wide-eyed animals at night and wake up to find that some of their possessions are missing. When they return to the ship they discover that a number of tools have gone missing. As tools keep disappearing the men get desperate and eventually decide to go to the ruins to search for them. When they return they find the ship has been tilted over again and that the winches have been destroyed. They conclude that the Martians are not hostile, but simply want the men to stay.
After setting a trap Chuck follows a Martian into the ruins and then down into a maze of tunnels under the old city. There he is captured by the rodent-like humanoid creatures. The elder of the group introduces himself as Sptz-Rrll and shows Chuck the broken copper impeller of a rotary air compressor. The Martians have been trying to repair it with one of the welders they have taken from the spaceship. After the Martians leave in response to a call Chuck frees himself and takes the welder. Before he leaves he repairs the impeller. As he tries to find his way out he is recaptured by the Martians.
Seeing the repaired impeller, Sptz-Rrll frees Chuck and, accompanied by over fifty other Martians, takes Chuck back to the ship along with all the stolen tools. In the ship, using a notepad and pencil to draw diagrams, Sptz-Rrll offers the help of his people in preparing the ship to return to Earth and Steele offers to leave much of the ship's unnecessary equipment behind for the Martians. Later trade between Earth and Mars will bring new drugs from Martian plants to Earth and material from Earth will enable the Martians to revive their dying civilization and expand it.
The Martian Chronicles is a science fiction fix-up novel, published in 1950, by American writer Ray Bradbury that chronicles the exploration and settlement of Mars, the home of indigenous Martians, by Americans leaving a troubled Earth that is eventually devastated by nuclear war.
Sleepers of Mars is a collection of early short stories by British writer John Wyndham, published after his death, in 1973 by Coronet Books.
The Sands of Mars is a science fiction novel by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. While he was already popular as a short story writer and as a magazine contributor, The Sands of Mars was also a prelude to Clarke's becoming one of the world's foremost writers of science fiction novels. The story was published in 1951, before humans had achieved space flight. It is set principally on the planet Mars, which has been settled by humans and is used essentially as a research establishment. The story setting is that Mars has been surveyed but not fully explored on the ground. The Sands of Mars was Clarke's first published novel.
Zombies of the Stratosphere is a 1952 black-and-white Republic Studios serial directed by Fred C. Brannon, with a screenplay by Ronald Davidson, and special effects by Republic's Lydecker brothers. It was intended to be Republic's second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying jacket and helmet introduced in King of the Rocket Men (1949). Instead, for reasons unknown, the hero was renamed "Larry Martin", who must prevent Martian invaders from using a hydrogen bomb to blow Earth out of its orbit, so that the Martians can move a dying Mars into a closer position to the Sun. As in Radar Men from the Moon, most of the screen time for each of the dozen chapters is spent on fistfights and car chases between the heroes and a gang of crooks hired by Narab and his extraterrestrial colleague Marex to steal and stockpile the Atomic supplies needed for construction of the H-bomb.
"Loophole" is a science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1946 in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. It was subsequently published as part of a short story collection in A Treasury of Science Fiction (Groff Conklin, 1948 and Expedition to Earth in 1953.
Edison's Conquest of Mars is an 1898 science fiction mashup novel by American astronomer and writer Garrett P. Serviss. It was written as a sequel to Fighters from Mars, an unauthorized and heavily altered version of H. G. Wells's 1897 story The War of the Worlds. It has a place in the history of science fiction for its early employment of themes and motifs that later became staples of the genre.
The Martian Chronicles is a 1980 television 3 episode miniseries based on Ray Bradbury's 1950 book The Martian Chronicles and dealing with the exploration of Mars and the inhabitants there. The series starred Rock Hudson, Darren McGavin, Bernadette Peters, Roddy McDowall, Fritz Weaver, Barry Morse, and Maria Schell. It was aired on NBC in January 1980 in three episodes with a total running time of just over four hours. The series depicts Mars as having a "thin atmosphere" which humans can breathe with water-filled canals and desert-like vegetation. The miniseries was directed by Michael Anderson and written by Richard Matheson.
The Purple Monster Strikes is a 1945 Republic Movie serial. It was also released as a Century 66 television film under the title D-Day on Mars (1966).
Hare-Way to the Stars is a 1958 American animated science fiction comedy short film directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 29, 1958 as part of the Looney Tunes series, and stars Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian. The title is a play on the song "Stairway to the Stars."
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"Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury. It was originally published in the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories in August 1949, under the title "The Naming of Names". It was subsequently included in the short-story collections A Medicine for Melancholy and S is for Space.
Rocket Jockey is a juvenile science fiction novel by Philip St. John with cover illustration by Alex Schomburg. The story follows the heroic efforts of young man Jerry Blaine in his efforts to win the famous rocket race, the Armstrong Classic. Rocket Jockey is a part of the Winston Science Fiction set, a series of juvenile novels which have become famous for their influence on young science fiction readers and their exceptional cover illustrations by award-winning artists.
Rocket to Luna is a juvenile science fiction novel by prolific author and screenwriter Evan Hunter published in 1953 by The John C. Winston Company with cover illustration by Alex Schomburg. The story follows the adventures of the main character Ted Baker after he mistakenly replaces a member of the first lunar expedition at the last moment before the rocket leaves for the Moon. Rocket to Luna is a part of the Winston Science Fiction set, a series of juvenile novels which have become famous for their influence on young science fiction readers and their exceptional cover illustrations by award-winning artists.
Mission to Mars is a 1955 children's science fiction novel by Patrick Moore, published by Burke. It is the first of a six-book series based on the character Maurice Gray.
Space architecture is the theory and practice of designing and building inhabited environments in outer space. This mission statement for space architecture was developed at the World Space Congress in Houston in 2002 by members of the Technical Aerospace Architecture Subcommittee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The architectural approach to spacecraft design addresses the total built environment. It is mainly based on the field of engineering, but also involves diverse disciplines such as physiology, psychology, and sociology.
The Mars Project is a 1952 non-fiction scientific book by the German rocket physicist, astronautics engineer and space architect, Wernher von Braun. It was translated from the original German by Henry J. White and first published in English by the University of Illinois Press in 1953.
Caliban's War is a 2012 science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey. It is about a conflict in the Solar System that involves Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt. It is the second book in The Expanse series and is preceded by Leviathan Wakes. The third book, Abaddon's Gate, was released on June 4, 2013. One of eight short stories and novellas published by James S. A. Corey, entitled "Gods of Risk", takes place directly after the events of Caliban's War.
The Secret of the Ninth Planet is a science-fiction novel written by Donald A. Wollheim and first published in the United States in 1959 by the John C. Winston Co. Wollheim takes his heroes on a grand tour of the Solar System as that team struggles to prevent an alien force from blowing up the Sun. This is the last of three juvenile novels that Wollheim wrote for Winston, the other two being The Secret of Saturn's Rings and The Secret of the Martian Moons.
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