(In Part 1) Introduction -- Chapter 1: The beginning -- Chapter 2: Of landers and orbiters -- Chapter 3: The grandest tour -- (In Part 2) Chapter 4: The decade of Halley -- Chapter 5: The era of flagships -- Chapter 6: Faster, cheaper, better -- (Now in Part 3) Foreword -- Author's Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 7: The last flagship -- Chapter 8: Faster, cheaper, better continues -- Chapter 9: Mars invaded -- Glossary -- Appendices -- Chapter references -- Further reading -- Previous volumes in this series -- Index.

In Robotic Exploration of the Solar System, Paolo Ulivi and David Harland provide a comprehensive account of the design and managment of deep-space missions, the spacecraft involved - some flown, others not - their instruments, and their scientific results. This third volume in the series covers launches in the period 1997 to 2003 and features: - a chapter entirely devoted to the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn; - coverage of planetary missions of the period, including the Deep Space 1 mission and the Stardust and Hayabusa sample returns from comets and asteroids; - extensive coverage of Mars exploration, the failed 1999 missions, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity. The story will continue in Part 4.