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Discovering Mars: A History of Observation and Exploration of the Red Planet
MP3 CD Format
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 narrative of our quest for the Red Planet has showcased some of our species' most hopeful 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.
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 narrative of our quest for the Red Planet has showcased some of our species' most hopeful 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.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
1 pages, Audio CD
Published June 21, 2022
4 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Jim Bell
61 books32 followersJames (Jim) F. Bell III (born July 23, 1965) is a Professor of Astronomy at Arizona State University, specializing in the study of planetary geology, geochemistry and mineralogy using data obtained from telescopes and from various spacecraft missions.
Dr. Bell's active research has involved the NASA Mars Pathfinder, Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR), 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Mars Science Laboratory missions. His book Postcards from Mars includes many images taken by the Mars rovers. Dr. Bell is currently an editor of the space science journal Icarus and president of The Planetary Society.
He has served as the lead scientist in charge of the Panoramic camera (Pancam) color imaging system on Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
Dr. Bell's active research has involved the NASA Mars Pathfinder, Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR), 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Mars Science Laboratory missions. His book Postcards from Mars includes many images taken by the Mars rovers. Dr. Bell is currently an editor of the space science journal Icarus and president of The Planetary Society.
He has served as the lead scientist in charge of the Panoramic camera (Pancam) color imaging system on Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 13, 2022
This took me a bit longer than usual to read, but not because it wasn't interesting! I was just busy!
A detailed and up-to-date reference on everything that is Mars and its exploration. It even included information on the Perseverance landing in February 2021, just over a year ago. If you want a one-stop reference on all Martian explorations, this is it!
The first part of the book goes in-depth into ancient and pre-modern "natural philosophers", from the Babylonians to Galileo. There is then a section on all the astronomers and Mars observers, detailing all of their work observing Mars through telescopes, up until the mid 20th-century, and the beginning of the Space Age. This first part of the book was a bit longer than I would have liked, but it was important to understand the evolution of the thinking about Mars throughout human history.
Then we head into the Space Age, where the real fun stuff begins. All the different flybys, orbiters, and landers were detailed, as well as all of their observations and discoveries. There was a bit too much geology for my tastes; I would have liked a bit more on the technology used by these spacecraft, but hey, that's why we go to Mars: to study it's atmosphere and geology.
My one gripe with the book was that there weren't nearly enough colour plates in it, and many images were in black and white, but the captions talked about them as though they were in colour. Frustrating!
The good news is, though, that my next book is Missions to Mars, which is chock-full of colour images, and which is a bit of a less in-depth history of Martian exploration.
Final note: Of course, I rewatched the Martian this week, and of course, it made me cry again, as it always does.
A detailed and up-to-date reference on everything that is Mars and its exploration. It even included information on the Perseverance landing in February 2021, just over a year ago. If you want a one-stop reference on all Martian explorations, this is it!
The first part of the book goes in-depth into ancient and pre-modern "natural philosophers", from the Babylonians to Galileo. There is then a section on all the astronomers and Mars observers, detailing all of their work observing Mars through telescopes, up until the mid 20th-century, and the beginning of the Space Age. This first part of the book was a bit longer than I would have liked, but it was important to understand the evolution of the thinking about Mars throughout human history.
Then we head into the Space Age, where the real fun stuff begins. All the different flybys, orbiters, and landers were detailed, as well as all of their observations and discoveries. There was a bit too much geology for my tastes; I would have liked a bit more on the technology used by these spacecraft, but hey, that's why we go to Mars: to study it's atmosphere and geology.
My one gripe with the book was that there weren't nearly enough colour plates in it, and many images were in black and white, but the captions talked about them as though they were in colour. Frustrating!
The good news is, though, that my next book is Missions to Mars, which is chock-full of colour images, and which is a bit of a less in-depth history of Martian exploration.
Final note: Of course, I rewatched the Martian this week, and of course, it made me cry again, as it always does.
June 4, 2022
You want to know just about everything associated with Mars as far as humans go? Read this book. From the first time that man glimpsed the Red Planet to the various probes that run across the surface and orbit the planet, this book accounts for them all (or at least as much as was known in 2021). This work is dense and detailed, but you will learn it all. Perhaps if you want just one book to read about Mara, and learn all there is to know, you might try this massive work.
May 17, 2024
Spectacular in ambition and scope — covers humanity's understanding of Mars since the invention of the telescope, and details what different space probes contributed to altering our understanding of the planet.
While not every result is documented, the story is told in great detail, with sources, and in a coherent narrative. A wonderful read spanning from 1600 to 2020, and covering Lowell and Antoniadi's canals debate, the first space missions, the arrival of Mariner 9, the Vikings, and the recent flurry of successful missions. Every mission is part of the tapestry, only the Marsokhod prototype was omitted of all the efforts I know of (fairly, as it was never a scheduled mission).
Best non-fiction read of the year thus far!
While not every result is documented, the story is told in great detail, with sources, and in a coherent narrative. A wonderful read spanning from 1600 to 2020, and covering Lowell and Antoniadi's canals debate, the first space missions, the arrival of Mariner 9, the Vikings, and the recent flurry of successful missions. Every mission is part of the tapestry, only the Marsokhod prototype was omitted of all the efforts I know of (fairly, as it was never a scheduled mission).
Best non-fiction read of the year thus far!
September 8, 2022
A thorough, in-depth, and amazingly researched history of Mars -- our viewings and visits of it, and our future with it. While I'm not sure everyone would find this interesting (it is very, very dense and it really gets into the weeds) I found it fascinating in the same way I found Richard Cohen's Chasing the Sun.
If you like science and astronomy, this is definitely for you.
If you like science and astronomy, this is definitely for you.
June 26, 2024
Fantastic overview of Mars Exploration. It could have been longer and I would have still liked it!
December 18, 2024
Super detailed, almost a textbook but really good. Great photos.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews