Download or read book Exploring Mars written by Scott Hubbard and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Red Planet has been a subject of fascination for humanity for thousands of years, becoming part of our folklore and popular culture. The most Earthlike of the planets in our solar system, Mars may have harbored some form of life in the past and may still possess an ecosystem in some underground refuge. The mysteries of this fourth planet from our Sun make it of central importance to NASA and its science goals for the twenty-first century.ÊÊ In the wake of the very public failures of the Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999, NASA embarked on a complete reassessment of the Mars Program. Scott Hubbard was asked to lead this restructuring in 2000, becoming known as the "Mars Czar." His team's efforts resulted in a very successful decade-long series of missions--each building on the accomplishments of those before it--that adhered to the science adage "follow the water" when debating how to proceed. Hubbard's work created the Mars Odyssey mission, the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Phoenix mission, and most recently the planned launch of the Mars Science Laboratory.Ê Now for the first time Scott Hubbard tells the complete story of how he fashioned this program, describing both the technical and political forces involved and bringing to life the national and international cast of characters engaged in this monumental endeavor.Ê Blending the exciting stories of the missions with the thrills of scientific discovery, Exploring Mars will intrigue anyone interested in the science, the engineering, or the policy of investigating other worlds. Ê

Download or read book Exploring Mars written by Robert S. Richardson and published by . This book was released on 2013-10 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a new release of the original 1954 edition.

Download or read book Discovering Mars written by William Sheehan and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 769 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For millenia humans have considered Mars the most fascinating planet in our solar system. We’ve watched this Earth-like world first with the naked eye, then using telescopes, and, most recently, through robotic orbiters and landers and rovers on the surface. Historian William Sheehan and astronomer and planetary scientist Jim Bell combine their talents to tell a unique story of what we’ve learned by studying Mars through evolving technologies. What the eye sees as a mysterious red dot wandering through the sky becomes a blurry mirage of apparent seas, continents, and canals as viewed through Earth-based telescopes. Beginning with the Mariner and Viking missions of the 1960s and 1970s, space-based instruments and monitoring systems have flooded scientists with data on Mars’s meteorology and geology, and have even sought evidence of possible existence of life-forms on or beneath the surface. This knowledge has transformed our perception of the Red Planet and has provided clues for better understanding our own blue world. Discovering Mars vividly conveys the way our understanding of this other planet has grown from earliest times to the present. The story is epic in scope—an Iliad or Odyssey for our time, at least so far largely without the folly, greed, lust, and tragedy of those ancient stories. Instead, the narrative of our quest for the Red Planet has showcased some of our species’ most hopeful attributes: curiosity, cooperation, exploration, and the restless drive to understand our place in the larger universe. Sheehan and Bell have written an ambitious first draft of that narrative even as the latest chapters continue to be added both by researchers on Earth and our robotic emissaries on and around Mars, including the latest: the Perseverance rover and its Ingenuity helicopter drone, which set down in Mars’s Jezero Crater in February 2021.

Download or read book Working on Mars written by William J. Clancey and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning in 2004, a team of geologists and other planetary scientists did field science in a dark room in Pasadena, exploring Mars from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) by means of the remotely operated Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Clustered around monitors, living on Mars time, painstakingly plotting each movement of the rovers and their tools, sensors, and cameras, these scientists reported that they felt as if they were on Mars themselves, doing field science. The MER created a virtual experience of being on Mars. This book examines how the MER has changed the nature of planetary field science. NASA cast the rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, as "robotic geologists," and ascribed machine initiative to remotely controlled actions. Clancey argues that the actual explorers were not the rovers but the scientists, who imaginatively projected themselves into the body of the machine to conduct the first overland expedition of another planet. The author investigates how the design of the rover mission enables field science on Mars, explaining how the scientists and rover engineers manipulate the vehicle and why the programmable tools and analytic instruments work so well for them.

Download or read book Mars Exploration written by Giuseppe Pezzella and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-09-09 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 50 years after the Mariner 4 flyby on 15 July 1965, Mars still represents the next frontier of space explorations. Of particular focus nowadays is crewed missions to the red planet. Over three sections, this book explores missions to Mars, in situ operations, and human-rated missions. Chapters address elements of design and possible psychological effects related to human-rated missions. The information contained herein will allow for the development of safe and efficient exploration missions to Mars.

Download or read book Curiosity s Mission on Mars written by Ron Miller and published by Twenty-First Century Books. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Could life have previously flourished on Mars? Will humans be able to travel there one day? Can humans one day colonize the red planet? NASA scientists have been interested in answering questions like these for a long time. In November 2011, NASA sent the rover Curiosity to Earth's nearest planetary neighbor. By gathering information about Mars's climate and geology, the robot is helping scientists uncover the secrets of the planet and its past. Since its launch, Curiosity has made some amazing discoveries. The rover found an ancient streambed where water once flowed for thousands of years, and rock samples proved that the surface soil on Mars still has water! In addition, from drilling into Martian rock, the rover detected the key chemicals necessary for life—sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon. And Curiosity's measurement of radiation on Mars shows levels similar to that at the International Space Station. These discoveries suggest that some parts of Mars could have been habitable—and may be again in the future. Learn more about the red planet and see what else Curiosity has uncovered!

Download or read book Human Missions to Mars written by Donald Rapp and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-10-31 with total page 604 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A mission to send humans to explore the surface of Mars has been the ultimate goal of planetary exploration since the 1950s, when von Braun conjectured a flotilla of 10 interplanetary vessels carrying a crew of at least 70 humans. Since then, more than 1,000 studies were carried out on human missions to Mars, but after 60 years of study, we remain in the early planning stages. The second edition of this book now includes an annotated history of Mars mission studies, with quantitative data wherever possible. Retained from the first edition, Donald Rapp looks at human missions to Mars from an engineering perspective. He divides the mission into a number of stages: Earth’s surface to low-Earth orbit (LEO); departing from LEO toward Mars; Mars orbit insertion and entry, descent and landing; ascent from Mars; trans-Earth injection from Mars orbit and Earth return. For each segment, he analyzes requirements for candidate technologies. In this connection, he discusses the status and potential of a wide range of elements critical to a human Mars mission, including life support consumables, radiation effects and shielding, microgravity effects, abort options and mission safety, possible habitats on the Martian surface and aero-assisted orbit entry decent and landing. For any human mission to the Red Planet the possible utilization of any resources indigenous to Mars would be of great value and such possibilities, the use of indigenous resources is discussed at length. He also discusses the relationship of lunar exploratio n to Mars exploration. Detailed appendices describe the availability of solar energy on the Moon and Mars, and the potential for utilizing indigenous water on Mars. The second edition provides extensive updating and additions to the first edition, including many new figures and tables, and more than 70 new references, as of 2015.

Download or read book NASA Missions to Mars written by Piers Bizony and published by Motorbooks International. This book was released on 2022-04-12 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With authoritative text and NASA photography and artworks, NASA Missions to Mars tells the story of NASA’s programs to explore the Red Planet—from the first tentative flybys to the present—and offers a glimpse into the future of Mars exploration.

Download or read book Why Mars written by W. Henry Lambright and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2014-06-10 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces NASA’s torturous journey to Mars from the fly-bys of the 1960s to landing rovers and seeking life today. Mars has captured the human imagination for decades. Since NASA’s establishment in 1958, the space agency has looked to Mars as a compelling prize, the one place, beyond the Moon, where robotic and human exploration could converge. Remarkably successful with its roaming multi-billion-dollar robot, Curiosity, NASA’s Mars program represents one of the agency’s greatest achievements. Why Mars analyzes the history of the robotic Mars exploration program from its origins to today. W. Henry Lambright examines the politics and policies behind NASA's multi-decade quest, illuminating the roles of key individuals and institutions along with their triumphs and defeats. Lambright outlines the ebbs and flows of policy evolution, focusing on critical points of change and factors that spurred strategic reorientation. He explains Mars exploration as a striking example of “big science” and describes the ways a powerful advocacy coalition—composed of NASA decision makers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Mars academic science community, and many others—has influenced governmental decisions on Mars exploration, making it, at times, a national priority. The quest for Mars stretches over many years and involves billions of dollars. What does it take to mount and give coherence to a multi-mission, big science program? How do advocates and decision makers maintain goals and adapt their programs in the face of opposition and budgetary stringency? Where do they succeed in their strategies? Where do they fall short? Lambright’s insightful book suggests that from Mars exploration we can learn lessons that apply to other large-scale national endeavors in science and technology.

Download or read book Curiosity The Story of a Mars Rover written by Markus Motum and published by Candlewick Press. This book was released on 2025-01-07 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A handsome and engaging children’s book. . . . This accessible look at interplanetary exploration will appeal to a broad range of young space enthusiasts.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) On August 6, 2012, the rover Curiosity touched down on the rocky surface of Mars—and now she’s ready to guide you through her journey. From idea to creation and beyond, this fact-filled, stylish book introduces readers to Curiosity and her mission: to discover more about the red planet and search for evidence of life. How did Curiosity get her name? What tools does she use to carry out her tasks? The popular NASA rover narrates how and why she traveled more than 350,000,000 miles to explore a planet no human has ever visited . . . and what she has been doing there for the past decade or so. Markus Motum brings Curiosity’s story to life in vivid color: the deep blues of space set off the warm, rusted hues of Mars’s dusty red surface, marking this lovable rover and her mission as something special—truly a world apart.

Download or read book From Habitability to Life on Mars written by Nathalie A. Cabrol and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2018-06-29 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Habitability to Life on Mars explores the current state of knowledge and questions on the past habitability of Mars and the role that rapid environmental changes may have played in the ability of prebiotic chemistry to transition to life. It investigates the role that such changes may have played in the preservation of biosignatures in the geological record and what this means for exploration strategies. Throughout the book, the authors show how the investigation of terrestrial analogs to early Martian habitats under various climates and environmental extremes provide critical clues to understand where, what and how to search for biosignatures on Mars. The authors present an introduction to the newest developments and state-of-the-art remote and in situ detection strategies and technologies that are being currently developed to support the upcoming ExoMars and Mars 2020 missions. They show how the current orbital and ground exploration is guiding the selection for future landing sites. Finally, the book concludes by discussing the critical question of the implications and ethics of finding life on Mars. - Edited by the lead on a NASA project that searches for habitability and life on Mars leading to the Mars 2020 mission - Presents the evidence, questions and answers we have today (including a summary of the current state of knowledge in advance of the ESA ExoMars and NASA Mars 2020 missions) - Includes contributions from authors directly involved in past, current and upcoming Mars missions - Provides key information as to how Mars rovers, such as ExoMars and Mars 2020, will address the search for life on Mars with their instrumentation

Download or read book Mission to Mars written by Buzz Aldrin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can astronauts reach Mars by 2035? Absolutely, says Buzz Aldrin, one of the first men to walk on the moon. Celebrated astronaut, brilliant engineer, bestselling author, Aldrin believes it is not only possibly but vital to America's future to keep pushing the space frontier outward for the sake of exploration, science, development, commerce, and security. What we need, he argues, is a commitment by the U.S. President as rousing as JFK's promise to reach the moon by the end of the 1960 - an audacious, inspiring goal-and a unified vision for space exploration. In Mission to Mars, Aldrin plots that trajectory, stressing that American-led space exploration is essential to the economic and technological vitality of the nation and the world. Do you dare to dream big? Then join Aldrin in his thought provoking and inspiring Mission to Mars.

Download or read book An Astrobiology Strategy for the Exploration of Mars written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-06-26 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three recent developments have greatly increased interest in the search for life on Mars. The first is new information about the Martian environment including evidence of a watery past and the possibility of atmospheric methane. The second is the possibility of microbial viability on Mars. Finally, the Vision for Space Exploration initiative included an explicit directive to search for the evidence of life on Mars. These scientific and political developments led NASA to request the NRC's assistance in formulating an up-to-date integrated astrobiology strategy for Mars exploration. Among other topics, this report presents a review of current knowledge about possible life on Mars; an astrobiological assessment of current Mars missions; a review of Mars-mission planetary protection; and findings and recommendations. The report notes that the greatest increase in understanding of Mars will come from the collection and return to Earth of a well-chosen suite of Martian surface materials.

Download or read book Exploring Mars written by Scott Hubbard and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Red Planet has been a subject of fascination for humanity for thousands of years, becoming part of our folklore and popular culture. The most Earthlike of the planets in our solar system, Mars may have harbored some form of life in the past and may still possess an ecosystem in some underground refuge. The mysteries of this fourth planet from our Sun make it of central importance to NASA and its science goals for the twenty-first century. In the wake of the very public failures of the Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999, NASA embarked on a complete reassessment of the Mars Program. Scott Hubbard was asked to lead this restructuring in 2000, becoming known as the "Mars Czar." His team's efforts resulted in a very successful decade-long series of missions—each building on the accomplishments of those before it—that adhered to the science adage "follow the water" when debating how to proceed. Hubbard's work created the Mars Odyssey mission, the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Phoenix mission, and most recently the planned launch of the Mars Science Laboratory. Now for the first time Scott Hubbard tells the complete story of how he fashioned this program, describing both the technical and political forces involved and bringing to life the national and international cast of characters engaged in this monumental endeavor. Blending the exciting stories of the missions with the thrills of scientific discovery, Exploring Mars will intrigue anyone interested in the science, the engineering, or the policy of investigating other worlds.

Download or read book Exploring Mars written by D. J. Ward and published by Lerner Books [UK]. This book was released on 2008-06-01 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Highly accessible writing combines with a magazine-style format in this series focusing on cutting-edge science. Each subject illustrates how scientists solve problems and develop new technology while firmly connecting each title to core curricular subjects. The books are aimed at children aged nine to 14.

Download or read book Exploring Mars written by David R Ely and published by David R Ely. This book was released on 2024-03-22 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction: The book "Exploring Mars: The Red Planet Revealed" welcomes readers to the enigmatic world of Mars, a planet that has captivated human imagination for centuries. It emphasizes the importance of Mars exploration and provides an overview of the topics covered in the book. Chapter 1: The Geology of Mars: This chapter delves into the geological history of Mars, covering its formation and evolution. It explores surface features such as volcanoes, valleys, and impact craters, comparing geological similarities and differences with Earth. Recent discoveries in Martian geology are highlighted, providing insights into the planet's past. Chapter 2: The Atmosphere of Mars: The atmospheric conditions of Mars are examined in detail, including its composition, structure, and climate patterns. Atmospheric phenomena such as dust storms and clouds are discussed, along with the challenges posed by the thin atmosphere for human exploration. Chapter 3: Potential for Life on Mars: This chapter explores the historical perspectives on Martian life and examines the factors influencing habitability, such as water, temperature, and radiation. The search for extremophiles and current/future missions focusing on astrobiology are also addressed. Chapter 4: Exploration History: A historical overview of Mars exploration is provided, from early observations to recent robotic missions like Curiosity and Perseverance. The contributions of international space agencies and private companies to Martian exploration are discussed. Chapter 5: Future Missions and Human Colonization: The chapter outlines plans for future human missions to Mars, addressing the challenges of long-duration space travel and living on the planet. Proposals for Martian habitats, life support systems, and the concept of terraforming are explored. Chapter 6: Technological Advancements and Innovations: Technological breakthroughs in Martian exploration are examined, including advancements in rovers, landers, and orbiters. Emerging technologies and the role of AI and robotics in Mars exploration are also discussed. Chapter 7: Economic Opportunities and Resource Utilization: The potential resources on Mars, such as water, minerals, and gases, are explored for their applications in in-situ resource utilization. Economic incentives for private sector involvement in Mars exploration and ethical considerations are addressed. Chapter 8: Cultural Impact and Imagination: This chapter delves into the cultural impact of Mars exploration, including its portrayal in literature, film, and popular culture. The significance of Mars exploration and its role in inspiring future generations of explorers are highlighted. Conclusion: The book concludes by reflecting on the journey of exploring Mars and the ongoing exploration efforts. It looks ahead to the next chapter in Martian exploration and the possibilities it holds for humanity. Addendum: The addendum includes a glossary of terms, a list of organic and inorganic matter found on Mars, as well as additional information on volcanoes, valleys, and craters on the planet. References are provided for further reading and research.

Download or read book Mars Exploration Rovers written by Steve Kortenkamp and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2016-08 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Explores various perspectives on exploration of Mars by rovers. The reader's choices reveal the historical details"--