Цикл книг «Гран-тур» — 38 книг

In the aftermath of a terrible space accident, spaceplane scientist Dan Randolph, who designed the vehicle as part of a plan to free America from its dependence on fossil fuels, realizes that his experiment was sabotaged and must outmaneuver terrorists, the government, and his creditors in order to prove himself. By the author of The Silent War. 25,000 first printing.

In the aftermath of a terrible space accident, spaceplane scientist Dan Randolph, who designed the vehicle as part of a plan to free America from its dependence on fossil fuels,…

It is early in the next century. The Soviet Union controls the heavens, and holds the world hostage through superiority in space weapons. America is a nation in decline, retreating from its place as a leader of the world.

Dan Randolph, former astronaut and engineer, is one of the world’s richest men, as famed for his romantic conquests as for his vast fortune made through the mining of space. Driven from the U.S. by the collapse of its space program, shut out of the rich resources of the moon by the Russian-dominated International Astronautical Council, Randolph establishes a base in Venezuela to tap the untold wealth of the asteroid belt.

But the Russians are willing to take brutal measures, including treachery, sabotage and murder, to preserve their hegemony. Soon Randolph is pitted in a deadly cat-and-mouse game against Vasily Malik, the young and ruthless Commissar of Space—not only for mankind’s future but for a diplomat’s beautiful daughter they both desire. Forced to operate outside the law, Randolph becomes a latter-day buccaneer, striking back at the Russians to raise the stakes in this deadly game.

Privateers is a riveting tale of high adventure that sweeps from the plantations of South America to the boardrooms of Japan; from the Oval Office of America’s first woman president, to the stark reaches of the high frontier.

It is early in the next century. The Soviet Union controls the heavens, and holds the world hostage through superiority in space weapons. America is a nation in decline,…

Dan Randolph never plays by the rules. A hell-raising maverick with no patience for fools, he is admired by his friends, feared by his enemies, and desired by the world's loveliest women. Acting as a twenty-first privateer, Randolph broke the political strangle-hold on space exploration and opened the solar system to all mankind—becoming one of the world's richest men in the bargain.

Now an ecological crisis threatens Earth, one that will exterminate billions in a few short years if it continues unchecked. And the same politicians that Randolph outwitted the first time want to impose a world dictatorship to deal with it. Dan Randolph knows that the answer lies in more human freedom, not less—and in the boundless resources of space. But can he stay free long enough to give the world that chance?

A daring tale of one man's struggle against overwhelming odds, Empire Builders is a stunning near-future thriller by one of the most acclaimed science fiction writers of our time.

Dan Randolph never plays by the rules. A hell-raising maverick with no patience for fools, he is admired by his friends, feared by his enemies, and desired by the world's…

This grand epic adventure from six-time Hugo Award–winning author Ben Bova tells the irresistible story of man’s first mission to that great unconquered frontier, Mars—a planet pocked by meteors, baked by ultraviolet light, and covered by endless deserts the color of dried blood. Technically plausible and compellingly human, Bova’s story explores the political, scientific, and social repercussions of our greatest quest yet: the search for evidence of life beyond Earth’s boundaries.

Half-Navajo geologist Jamie Waterman has been selected for the ground team of the first manned expedition to our mysterious neighbor planet. Joining an international team of twenty-five astronauts and scientists, he endures the rigors of training, the dangers of traveling an incredible distance in space, the challenges of an alien landscape, and the personal and political conflicts that arise when the team must face the most shocking discovery of all.

Mars is an unforgettable portrait of space, politics, science, and humanity that captures for all time the mystery and wonder of an alien frontier.

This grand epic adventure from six-time Hugo Award–winning author Ben Bova tells the irresistible story of man’s first mission to that great unconquered frontier, Mars—a planet…

Moonbase is little more than a dream. A privatized former government lunar project, it consists of a dozen cramped, interconnected "temporary" shelters buried below piles of regolith rubble. But ex-astronaut Paul Stavenger envisions the majestic domed city Moonbase must inevitably a bustling center for manufacturing and scientific development vital to the interests of the Earth and all humankind. Yet only his wife, Joanna Masterson Stavenger, has the power to derail the corporate opposition that could dismantle the financially troubled installation to which her husband has dedicated his life and future.
The moon and its mysteries have captivated the Stavengers - and it will continue to exert its mysterious power on the family through subsequent generations. For in the gray lunar dust, battlelines are to be drawn between innovative creators who would mine the heavens for its riches...and craven destroyers ruthlessly dedicated to enacting a nightmarish nanotechnological revenge somewhere on the merciless scorched expanse of the Mare Nubium.

Moonbase is little more than a dream. A privatized former government lunar project, it consists of a dozen cramped, interconnected "temporary" shelters buried below piles of…

Moonbase rose up like the Phoenix out of the lunar dust-- a new society thriving on an inhospitable world battling the bitter enmity of powerful Earthside foes for the right to exist.
Now it's total war.

MOONWAR

This is our future.

Ben Bova sees it as dearly as if it were outside his window.

A Hugo Award-winning extrapolator--the best-selling explorer of Mars--Bova thrills us with the astounding possibilities of science and technology. But it's his humanism that sets Ben Bova's SF uniquely apart. His characters live and breathe, captivating us with their dreams, their foibles and their distinctly human crises. Armed with these potent weapons, he leads us into MOONWAR--the second book in his monumental Moonbase Saga for a life-or-death confrontation in the magnificent desolation of a harsh and airless world.

Seven years after the remarkable Stavenger family made Moonbase a reality, a substantial community lives, labors and flourishes under the leadership of Doug Stavenger, thanks to the wonders of nanotechnology--virus-size machines that can build, refine, cure, create. . .and destroy. But the science that sustains and supports the young off Earth colony has been declared illegal and immoral by the home planet's rulers. And one man with the power to dictate policy is launching war's madness across the heavens--determined to lay claim to Stavenger's peaceful city or obliterate it if necessary--forcing an isolated society with no arms or military to defend itself with nothing but ingenuity and the tools that built and maintain the settlement.

Moonbase rose up like the Phoenix out of the lunar dust-- a new society thriving on an inhospitable world battling the bitter enmity of powerful Earthside foes for the right to…

What Jamie Waterman discovered on Mars was astonishing. What he survived was remarkable—but it was only the beginning.

Six years after the first manned Martian expedition, a second has been announced, this one motivated purely by its profitable potential. Half-Navajo geologist Jamie Waterman, a veteran of the first mission, feels his conflicted soul beckoning him back to the eerie, unforgiving planet. As commander of the new exploratory team, he will have to contend with a bitter and destructive rivalry, a disturbing new emotional attraction, and deadly, incomprehensible “accidents” that appear to be sabotage—all of which could doom the mission to failure. But there are still great secrets to be uncovered on this cruel and enigmatic world, not the least of which is something he glimpsed in the far distance during his first Martian excursion: an improbable structure perched high in the planet’s carmine cliffs—a dwelling that only an intelligent being could have built.

What Jamie Waterman discovered on Mars was astonishing. What he survived was remarkable—but it was only the beginning.

Six years after the first manned Martian expedition, a…

Человечество «прозрело» слишком поздно – экологические катастрофы подтолкнули Землю к краю пропасти. Добыча ресурсов на Земле может нарушить шаткий баланс. Дэн Рэндольф, пытающийся найти выход из положения, отправляется в рискованную экспедицию к Поясу Астероидов. Дэну и его команде предстоит столкнуться с множеством трудностей. Что опаснее – глубины космоса или соперник на Земле, желающий любой ценой прибрать к рукам твою корпорацию?

Человечество «прозрело» слишком поздно – экологические катастрофы подтолкнули Землю к краю пропасти. Добыча ресурсов на Земле может нарушить шаткий баланс. Дэн Рэндольф,…

Jupiter is a boundless ocean, ten times wider than the entire planet Earth. Heated from below by the planet's seething core, it is the widest, deepest, most fearsome ocean in the solar system.
Idealistic young American scientist Grant Archer joins a clandestine expedition to this awesome new world. But Grant does not share the ideals of the scientists he accompanies: he has been planted on their expedition by the New Morality, a religious group that wants to ferret out what the 'godless humanists' have discovered. His mission: to reassure the new religious leaders of Earth that Jupiter holds no intelligent life.
But unknown to the New Morality, Grant, though the son of a minister, is both a believer and a man who sees no reason why science and faith can not co-exist. He has come to the vast, planet-girdling ocean of Jupiter with an open mind, and he is about to tell his masters something that may shatter their conviction.

Jupiter is a boundless ocean, ten times wider than the entire planet Earth. Heated from below by the planet's seething core, it is the widest, deepest, most fearsome ocean in the…

Visionary space industrialist Dan Randolph is dead—but his protégé, pilot Pancho Barnes, now sits on the board of his conglomerate. She has her work cut out for her—for Randolph’s rival, Martin Humphries, still wants to control Astro and still wants to drive independent asteroid miners like Lars Fuchs out of business. Humphries wants revenge against Pancho—and, most of all, he wants his old flame, Amanda, who has become Lars Fuchs’s wife. Before it ends, many will die—and many will achieve more than they ever dreamed was possible.

Visionary space industrialist Dan Randolph is dead—but his protégé, pilot Pancho Barnes, now sits on the board of his conglomerate. She has her work cut out for her—for Randolph’s…

When corporations go to war, standard business practice goes out the window. Astro Corporation is led by indomitable Texan Pancho Lane, Humphries Space Systems by the rich and ruthless Martin Humphries, and their fight is over nothing less than resources of the Asteroid Belt itself. As fighting escalates, the lines between commerce and politics, boardroom and bedroom, blur--and the keys to victory will include physics, nanotechnology, and cold hard cash.

When corporations go to war, standard business practice goes out the window. Astro Corporation is led by indomitable Texan Pancho Lane, Humphries Space Systems by the rich and…

In the wake of the Asteroid Wars that tore across the solar system, Victor Zacharius makes his living running the ore-carrier Syracuse . With his wife and two children he plies the Asteroid Belt, hauling whatever cargo can be found. When the Syracuse stumbles into the middle of a military attack on the habitat Chrysalis, Victor flees in a control pod to draw the attacker's attention away from his family. Now, as his wife and children plunge into the far deeps of space, Victor has been rescued by the seductive Cheena Madagascar. He must do her bidding if he's to have a prayer of ever seeing his family again. Elverda Apacheta is the solar system's greatest sculptor. The cyborg Dorn was formerly Dorik Harbin, the ruthless military commander responsible for the attack on Chrysalis . Their lives and destinies have been linked by their joint discovery of the alien artifact that had, earlier, profoundly affected industrialist Martin Humphries. Similarly transformed by the artifact's mysterious powers, Apacheta and Dorn now prowl the Belt, determined to find the bodies of the many victims of Harbin's atrocities so that they can be given proper burials. Kao Yuan is the captain of Viking , owned by Martin Humphries, who's determined to kill Dorn and Elverda because they know too much about the artifact and its power over him. But Viking 's second-in-command, Tamara Vishinsky, appears to have the real power on board ship. When Viking catches up to Apacheta and Dorn, their confrontation begins a series of events involving them, the Zacharius family, and Martin Humphries and his son in the transformation of the human solar system…

In the wake of the Asteroid Wars that tore across the solar system, Victor Zacharius makes his living running the ore-carrier Syracuse . With his wife and two children he plies…

Second in size only to Jupiter, bigger than a thousand Earths but light enough to float in water, home of crushing gravity and delicate, seemingly impossible rings, it dazzles and attracts us:

SATURN

Earth groans under the thumb of fundamentalist political regimes. Crisis after crisis has given authoritarians the upper hand. Freedom and opportunity exist in space, for those with the nerve and skill to run the risks.

Now the governments of Earth are encouraging many of their most incorrigible dissidents to join a great ark on a one-way expedition, twice Jupiter's distance from the Sun, to Saturn, the ringed planet that baffled Galileo and has fascinated astronomers ever since.

But humans will be human, on Earth or in the heavens-so amidst the idealism permeating Space Habitat Goddard are many individuals with long-term schemes, each awaiting the tight moment. And hidden from them is the greatest secret of all, the real purpose of this expedition, known to only a few....

Second in size only to Jupiter, bigger than a thousand Earths but light enough to float in water, home of crushing gravity and delicate, seemingly impossible rings, it dazzles and…

In Ben Bova's novel JUPITER, physicist Grant Archer led an expedition into Jupiter's hostile planetwide ocean, attempting to study the unusual and massive creatures that call the planet their home. Unprepared for the hostile environment and crushing pressures, Grant's team faced certain death as their ship malfunctioned and slowly sank to the planet's depths. However one of Jupiter's native creatures--a city-sized leviathan--saved the doomed ship. This creature's act convinced Grant that the huge creatures were intelligent, but he lacked scientific proof.

Now, several years later, Grant prepares a new expedition to prove once and for all that the huge creatures are intelligent. The new team faces dangers from both the hostile environment and from humans who will do anything to make sure the mission is a failure, even if it means murdering the entire crew.
One of Library Journal's Best SF/Fantasy Books of 2011

In Ben Bova's novel JUPITER, physicist Grant Archer led an expedition into Jupiter's hostile planetwide ocean, attempting to study the unusual and massive creatures that call the…

Hugo Award-winning editor, author, scientist, and journalist, Ben Bova is a modern master of near-future science fiction and a passionate advocate of manned space exploration. For more than a decade, Bova has been chronicling humanity's struggles to colonize our solar system in a series of interconnected novels known as "The Grand Tour."

Now, with Titan, Ben Bova takes readers to one of the most intriguing destinations in near space: the extraordinary moon of Saturn which made international headlines last year when the Huygens probe sent back remarkable images of its strange landscapes.

2095. After long months of travel, the gigantic colony ship Goddard has at last made orbit around Saturn, carrying a population of more than of 10,000 dissidents, rebels, extremists, and visionaries seeking a new life. Among Goddard's missions is the study of Titan, which offers the tantalizing possibility that life may exist amid its windswept islands and chill black seas.

When the exploration vessel Titan Alpha mysteriously fails after reaching the moon's surface, long buried tensions surface among the colonists. Eduoard Urbain, the mission's chief scientist, is wracked with anxiety and despair as he sees his life's work unravel. Malcolm Eberly, Goddard's chief administrator, takes ruthless measures to hold onto power as a rash of suspicious incidents threaten to undermine his authority. Holly Lane, the colony's human-resources director, must confront the station's powerful leaders to protect the lives of its people. And retired astronaut Manuel Gaeta is forced to risk his life in a last, desperate attempt to salvage the lost probe.

Torn by intrigue, sabotage, and an awesome discovery that could threaten human space exploration, a handful of courageous men and women must fight for the survival of their colony, and for the destiny of the human race.

Hugo Award-winning editor, author, scientist, and journalist, Ben Bova is a modern master of near-future science fiction and a passionate advocate of manned space exploration. For…

The planet closest to our Sun, Mercury is a rocky, barren, heat-scorched world. But there are those who hope to find wealth in its desolation.

Saito Yamagata thinks Mercury's position makes it an ideal place to generate power to propel starships into deep space. Astrobiologist Victor Molina thinks the water at Mercury's poles may harbor evidence of life. Bishop Elliot Danvers has been sent by the Earth-based "New Morality" to keep close tabs on Molina.

But all three of these men are blissfully unaware of their shared history, and of how it connects to the collapse of Mance Bracknell's geosynchronous space elevator a generation ago. Now they're about to find out, because Mance is determined to have his revenge…

The planet closest to our Sun, Mercury is a rocky, barren, heat-scorched world. But there are those who hope to find wealth in its desolation.

Saito Yamagata thinks Mercury's…

Jamie Waterman has made an important discovery on Mars. A cliff dwelling reveals the fact that an intelligent race lived on the red planet sixty-five million years ago, only to be driven into extinction by the crash of a giant meteor. But now the exploration of Mars is itself under threat of extinction, as the ultraconservative New Morality movement gains control of the United States government and cuts off all funding for the Mars program.

Meanwhile, Carter Carleton, an anthropologist who was driven from his university post by unproven rape charges, has started to dig up the remains of a Martian village. Science and politics clash on two worlds as Jamie desperately tries to save the Mars program and uncover who the vanished Martians were.

This is a compelling tale of adventure, political intrigue—and the possibility of life on other planets.

Jamie Waterman has made an important discovery on Mars. A cliff dwelling reveals the fact that an intelligent race lived on the red planet sixty-five million years ago, only to be…

Венера. Адская планета, где ЖАРА УБИВАЕТ ВСЕ ЖИВОЕ. Планета, на которой погибли СОТНИ исследователей.

Но лишь за возвращение останков ОДНОГО из них - Алекса, старшего сына и наследника главы могущественной корпорации, - обещана поистине ОГРОМНАЯ НАГРАДА.

Награда, ради которой готовы рискнуть жизнью двое -младший брат погибшего Ван и циничный старатель из Пояса Астероидов Фукс. У каждого - свои причины понять, КАК и ПОЧЕМУ ОН ПОГИБ...

Венера. Адская планета, где ЖАРА УБИВАЕТ ВСЕ ЖИВОЕ. Планета, на которой погибли СОТНИ исследователей.

Но лишь за возвращение останков ОДНОГО из них - Алекса, старшего сына и…

In the 1980s, an alien starship visited Earth. While investigating what appeared to be a sarcophagus bearing the preserved body of its builder, astronaut Keith Stoner was trapped and cryogenically frozen. After his body was eventually returned to Earth and revived, Stoner discovered that he had acquired alien powers. Putting them to use, he built a new starship and left Earth. Now, after more than a century of exploring the stars, Keith Stoner returns to find that the world he has come back to does not match the one he left. The planet is suffering the consequences of disastrous greenhouse flooding. Most nations have been taken over by ultraconservative religion-based governments, such as the New Morality in the United States. With population ballooning and resources running out, Earth is heading for nuclear war. Stoner, the star voyager, wants to save Earth’s people, but first he must save himself from the frightened and ambitious zealots who want to destroy this stranger—and the terrifying message he brings from the stars.

In the 1980s, an alien starship visited Earth. While investigating what appeared to be a sarcophagus bearing the preserved body of its builder, astronaut Keith Stoner was trapped…

Farside, the side of the moon that never faces Earth, isthe ideal location for an astronomical observatory. It is also the setting fora tangled web of politics, personal ambition, love, jealousy, and murder.

Telescopes on Earth have detected an Earth-sized planetcircling a star some thirty light-years away. The race is on to obtainphotographs and spectra that show whether or not the planet is truly likeEarth—and if it bears life. Farside observatory will have the largest opticaltelescope in the solar system, as well as a vast array of radio antennas—themost sensitive radio telescope possible, insulated from the interference ofEarth’s radio chatter by a thousand kilometers of the moon’s solid mass.

Building the Farside observatory is a complex and oftendangerous task. On the airless surface of the moon—under constant bombardmentby hard radiation and infalling micrometeoroids—builders must work incumbersome spacesuits and use robotic machines as much as possible. Breakdowns,both mechanical and emotional, are commonplace. Accidents happen, some of themfatal. But what they ultimately find will stun everyone, and the human racewill never be the same.

Farside, the side of the moon that never faces Earth, isthe ideal location for an astronomical observatory. It is also the setting fora tangled web of politics, personal ambition,…