Olivier Zarrouati (S1982) publishes a novel about the conquest of Mars

A century after the first footprint of a spacesuit boot on the Moon, men set out to conquer Mars. That's a long time to wait, given that only twenty-two years separated Chuck Yeager's breakthrough of the sound barrier and Neil Armstrong's conquest of interplanetary space.

But there are some differences, between a one-week flight and a multi-year expedition, between a snorkel and a stay in deep water, between a quick test flight and Magellan's voyage.

The mission to Mars will have all the trappings of a great adventure, and all the drama too. Like the great ships of the Renaissance, Endowment is an aircraft of its time, sent beyond its limits to discover unknown horizons. Its passengers are human beings like any others, using the most common of woods to travel beyond their own limits.

For Mars is not just another planet on the list of those yet to be discovered. It's a unique world, in every possible sense. The only one truly accessible to 21st-century man. The one you only go to once. Going to Mars is a life-size experience of immoderation.

Our comrade Olivier Zarrouati (S1982 - X1977), a former aeronautics industry executive, currently works as a strategic consultant and investor in the aerospace industry and in start-ups. After honing his engineering skills in the space industry, and publishing Trajectoires Spatiales in 1987, he quickly turned his attention to corporate strategy and management, an experience he describes in L'entreprise, l'ingénieur et le pouvoir, published in 2021. He also explored more interior issues in De larmes de lumière, his first novel published in 2014 under the name Olivier Guy. De la Terre à Mars is his second novel, which devotes the same attention to the very concrete aspects of an immense space adventure, and its human implications.

From Earth to Mars (novel)

Published by Cépaduès