The Daedalus Mission — Dietmar Arthur Wehr

This hard science technothriller is the opening salvo in the Battle For Mars series. The year is 2029, and four SpaceX astronauts are about to enter orbit around Mars in preparation for a landing on the red planet. But there's a problem. The ship carrying the astronauts has been leaking fuel for most of the trip, and now it doesn't have enough left for a landing attempt. Complicating matters further, the Chinese have sent a manned spacecraft to Mars, too. Will they try to beat the SpaceX team to be the first humans to set foot on Mars? Are they going to try to land on Phobos, the Martian moon, for a closer look at the mysterious monolith that seems to be there? The only hope for the SpaceX astronauts is an untested spacecraft/propulsion system developed by a rival company, a company created and led by a reclusive billionaire who seems to want to put SpaceX out of business. Who will land on Mars first? Is the Phobos monolith a natural or artificial object? And what is the Chinese agenda regarding Mars? This tension-filled short novel also includes a science fact article on colonizing Mars.