What do you think?
Rate this book
Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet
An inspiring exploration of the establishment of humans on Mars—tying into the National Geographic television documentary series Mars.
The next frontier in space exploration is Mars, the Red Planet—and human habitation of Mars isn’t much farther off. In October 2015, NASA declared Mars “an achievable goal”; that same season, Ridley Scott and Matt Damon’s The Martian drew crowds into theaters, grossing over $200 million.
Now the National Geographic Channel fast forwards years ahead with Mars, a six-part series documenting and dramatizing the next twenty-five years as humans land on and learn to live on Mars. Following on the visionary success of Buzz Aldrin’s Mission to Mars and the visual glory of Marc Kaufman’s Mars Up Close, this companion book to the Nat Geo series shows the science behind the mission and the challenges awaiting those brave individuals.
The book combines science, technology, and storytelling, offering what only National Geographic can create. Clear scientific explanations make the Mars experience real and provide amazing visuals to savor and return to again and again.
The next frontier in space exploration is Mars, the Red Planet—and human habitation of Mars isn’t much farther off. In October 2015, NASA declared Mars “an achievable goal”; that same season, Ridley Scott and Matt Damon’s The Martian drew crowds into theaters, grossing over $200 million.
Now the National Geographic Channel fast forwards years ahead with Mars, a six-part series documenting and dramatizing the next twenty-five years as humans land on and learn to live on Mars. Following on the visionary success of Buzz Aldrin’s Mission to Mars and the visual glory of Marc Kaufman’s Mars Up Close, this companion book to the Nat Geo series shows the science behind the mission and the challenges awaiting those brave individuals.
The book combines science, technology, and storytelling, offering what only National Geographic can create. Clear scientific explanations make the Mars experience real and provide amazing visuals to savor and return to again and again.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2016
14 people are currently reading
627 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 28, 2021
Beautiful pictures. Slightly outdated - from 2018: no Perseverance/Ingenuity, the old ridiculous dates from Elon Musk, a corrupt and bankrupted OneMars company.
March 11, 2018
I really like it.
At first, I somehow got the impression, that it's a companion to the TV show "Mars" and there are some things of the show mentioned in it but there is so much more to it.
It has such gorgeous pictures of Mars - real ones and imaginations of artists.
It give a concise overview what has to happen so that people can go to Mars and live there - maybe even settle there for ever.
It's science-y without being too science-y (lay people can understand it).
It profiles some "heroes" of the effort to go to Mars.
I really enjoyed reading it. :)
At first, I somehow got the impression, that it's a companion to the TV show "Mars" and there are some things of the show mentioned in it but there is so much more to it.
It has such gorgeous pictures of Mars - real ones and imaginations of artists.
It give a concise overview what has to happen so that people can go to Mars and live there - maybe even settle there for ever.
It's science-y without being too science-y (lay people can understand it).
It profiles some "heroes" of the effort to go to Mars.
I really enjoyed reading it. :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2017
Quick status update of the science and a peptalk to future colonists. Also a good companion to the NatGeo TV series that came out just last year. The problem with listening to audiobook version of this, is the fact that the print version was supposed to have some very nice illustrations I'm a bit sad to have missed.
Buuut downpour.com had such a good deal on the audiobook couple of weeks back so I couldn't skip it!
And also I wanted to refresh my Mars tech knowledge before watching the miniseries I've been hearing such good things about.
Buuut downpour.com had such a good deal on the audiobook couple of weeks back so I couldn't skip it!
And also I wanted to refresh my Mars tech knowledge before watching the miniseries I've been hearing such good things about.
October 25, 2020
A concise, but also a multifocal book that looks at our prospects of travelling to Mars, colonizing and terraforming Mars. The style is slightly dry and not quite exciting as the subject matter implies; yet still, it does offer interesting perspectives on our future. The book explores in the concise form several aspects of space travel - the financial side, the temporal investments as it will be a one-way trip for many, a psychological impact of living in a close and cloistered proximity away from Earth, survival and environmental issues as well as the perspective of finding either some form of life or if it ever existed on Mars in the past. Another important issue is the final goal of this massive adventure - are we going to Mars by taking a stop on the Moon and thus first revisiting it or are we going straight to Mars. The author is level handed approach and provides a number of perspectives, yet the question is still there. Should we go? What will cost us? is ti worth it?
If you ask me, we should definitely explore the Great Unknown ... It might be our only chance to survive.
If you ask me, we should definitely explore the Great Unknown ... It might be our only chance to survive.
January 5, 2023
This book is meant to be read alongside of watching the Mars TV show that aired on National Geographic. While, I do not like this concept too much (a buddy-buddy series or companion book), I really like the show and I like all the ideas and concepts displayed in the mini-series/book.
Each chapter in the book reflects an episode on the TV (six in total).
Stray thoughts (that correspond to each chapter):
1. It is interesting to think about the added challenges of landing on Mars. The moon is easier to land on due to its low gravity and zero atmosphere. Mars’ thin atmosphere and added gravity add a complication. Sending unmanned supplies and other probes/rovers are not really an issue, but when it comes to humans, you cannot be as rough for the landing.
2. The psyche of humans is something that I feel like really doesn’t come into play when talking about long missions in space. I mean, we see reality TV shows (like Real World and others) that have people living together for long periods of time but these aren’t as real as the TV makes them out to be. I feel like people would have to go into some kind of deep sleep just so that they won’t annoy the ever-living hell out of others for long periods of time with no escape. It is interesting to know that we have been conducting experiments on people, not only in space (like Scott Kelly), but in really remote areas like Antarctica and Devon Island (affectionately named Mars on Earth).
3. I would agree that finding something habitable about Mars would be pretty important. Turning CO2 into Oxygen sounds like it may be a little far-fetched, but we would need to do something. 3D printing is cool and I can see how it can be a huge-potential-problem-solver. It would be cool to employ some Asimovian principles in having robots come in before humans (to Mars) and do some excavating and other things to make for a more habitable landing and living area. The terms moon-huggers and Mars-huggers are pretty funny. (Why would Europe want to build a colony-type thing on the moon? Won’t that set back Mars-based exploration)?
4. “Finding life on Mars is a difficult task” is a quote from some scientist. Uh, yeah, it sure is. I like the idea of how human-based space craft (and humans) could start invasive species on Mars. We just ruin everything! Perchlorates will be a big problem. It sounds like we’ll need to get Bruce Willis and his crew of offshore oil drillers and go Armageddon on Mars in order to “find life”.
5. I wonder if the Space Race of the 1960’s helped space exploration or hindered it due to being too hasty and impulsive/competitive. It seems like in today’s world, we can “all get along” and help each other accomplish goals. Also, in the next five years, we should be seeing quite a few vessels on their way to Mars - including landing rovers and such. It should be exciting! It is interesting to see the thoughts and ideas of certain important people on whether we should pursue more moon-missions before Mars-missions. I guess I can see how more moon-missions could be important, but the moon seems like a completely different animal than Mars.
6. Considering cosmic radiation is something that I would think most humans would not think of as a big hazard for Mars travel and Mars exploration (solar radiation too). The thoughts towards “terraforming” Mars seem so sci-fi that they don’t even sound real. I mean, just ‘simply’ heating up the atmosphere and blasting it with water and microbes will supposedly simply do the trick. It’s just odd to think about how real this really is. I have a feeling that it is so much more complicated than this and so much more complicated that what scientists are saying (according to the books I have read). Why not terraform Venus? Just poke a big hole in the atmosphere, drain out the bad gasses, blow in some good gasses and voila! If sci-fi is as simple as it sounds for Mars, this should work too. So, it will only take roughly 100 years to increase the temperature of Mars to a somewhat-suitable level (I mean, just look at how humans have globally warmed our own planet, haha); and it will take 100,000 years to get the planet fully terraformed. Wow, that is just too long to even comprehend. Sci-fi was WAY off! The end of the last chapter started delving into what many sci-fi and space opera novels have already written about – the future of humanity on how Mars will eventually have its own ‘force’ and strong enough government to where they will separate themselves from Earth (political tensions, etc.). This is most notably recognized from The Expanse Series (starting with the book Leviathan Wakes). And, one last thought, there is going to be a Mars-based theme park in Las Vegas (maybe as early as 2021) they will have 0.25 gravity and other Martian things. Should be interesting!
Audiobook narrator Andrew Reilly rating: 3.5 stars
The narrator does an ok job of narrating this book. It is non-fiction and no dialogue so there isn’t much to rate. There is a ‘foreword’ by Ron Howard that is not narrated by Ron Howard. I feel like I am gipped a little because of this. I mean, come on Ron, what are you doing that makes you too busy to do this?
Also, because I have the Audible audio version of this book, I cannot see the nice pictures that supposedly accompany this book. Usually Audible has a PDF button you can click or so, but that does not exist in my library. <-- more gipped.
Either way, I guess I am a sucker for these relatively short non-fiction books that involve space travel to Mars! I really enjoyed this book and hope to find others like it.
Each chapter in the book reflects an episode on the TV (six in total).
Stray thoughts (that correspond to each chapter):
1. It is interesting to think about the added challenges of landing on Mars. The moon is easier to land on due to its low gravity and zero atmosphere. Mars’ thin atmosphere and added gravity add a complication. Sending unmanned supplies and other probes/rovers are not really an issue, but when it comes to humans, you cannot be as rough for the landing.
2. The psyche of humans is something that I feel like really doesn’t come into play when talking about long missions in space. I mean, we see reality TV shows (like Real World and others) that have people living together for long periods of time but these aren’t as real as the TV makes them out to be. I feel like people would have to go into some kind of deep sleep just so that they won’t annoy the ever-living hell out of others for long periods of time with no escape. It is interesting to know that we have been conducting experiments on people, not only in space (like Scott Kelly), but in really remote areas like Antarctica and Devon Island (affectionately named Mars on Earth).
3. I would agree that finding something habitable about Mars would be pretty important. Turning CO2 into Oxygen sounds like it may be a little far-fetched, but we would need to do something. 3D printing is cool and I can see how it can be a huge-potential-problem-solver. It would be cool to employ some Asimovian principles in having robots come in before humans (to Mars) and do some excavating and other things to make for a more habitable landing and living area. The terms moon-huggers and Mars-huggers are pretty funny. (Why would Europe want to build a colony-type thing on the moon? Won’t that set back Mars-based exploration)?
4. “Finding life on Mars is a difficult task” is a quote from some scientist. Uh, yeah, it sure is. I like the idea of how human-based space craft (and humans) could start invasive species on Mars. We just ruin everything! Perchlorates will be a big problem. It sounds like we’ll need to get Bruce Willis and his crew of offshore oil drillers and go Armageddon on Mars in order to “find life”.
5. I wonder if the Space Race of the 1960’s helped space exploration or hindered it due to being too hasty and impulsive/competitive. It seems like in today’s world, we can “all get along” and help each other accomplish goals. Also, in the next five years, we should be seeing quite a few vessels on their way to Mars - including landing rovers and such. It should be exciting! It is interesting to see the thoughts and ideas of certain important people on whether we should pursue more moon-missions before Mars-missions. I guess I can see how more moon-missions could be important, but the moon seems like a completely different animal than Mars.
6. Considering cosmic radiation is something that I would think most humans would not think of as a big hazard for Mars travel and Mars exploration (solar radiation too). The thoughts towards “terraforming” Mars seem so sci-fi that they don’t even sound real. I mean, just ‘simply’ heating up the atmosphere and blasting it with water and microbes will supposedly simply do the trick. It’s just odd to think about how real this really is. I have a feeling that it is so much more complicated than this and so much more complicated that what scientists are saying (according to the books I have read). Why not terraform Venus? Just poke a big hole in the atmosphere, drain out the bad gasses, blow in some good gasses and voila! If sci-fi is as simple as it sounds for Mars, this should work too. So, it will only take roughly 100 years to increase the temperature of Mars to a somewhat-suitable level (I mean, just look at how humans have globally warmed our own planet, haha); and it will take 100,000 years to get the planet fully terraformed. Wow, that is just too long to even comprehend. Sci-fi was WAY off! The end of the last chapter started delving into what many sci-fi and space opera novels have already written about – the future of humanity on how Mars will eventually have its own ‘force’ and strong enough government to where they will separate themselves from Earth (political tensions, etc.). This is most notably recognized from The Expanse Series (starting with the book Leviathan Wakes). And, one last thought, there is going to be a Mars-based theme park in Las Vegas (maybe as early as 2021) they will have 0.25 gravity and other Martian things. Should be interesting!
Audiobook narrator Andrew Reilly rating: 3.5 stars
The narrator does an ok job of narrating this book. It is non-fiction and no dialogue so there isn’t much to rate. There is a ‘foreword’ by Ron Howard that is not narrated by Ron Howard. I feel like I am gipped a little because of this. I mean, come on Ron, what are you doing that makes you too busy to do this?
Also, because I have the Audible audio version of this book, I cannot see the nice pictures that supposedly accompany this book. Usually Audible has a PDF button you can click or so, but that does not exist in my library. <-- more gipped.
Either way, I guess I am a sucker for these relatively short non-fiction books that involve space travel to Mars! I really enjoyed this book and hope to find others like it.
February 14, 2017
This is a weird book. It's a companion to some National Geographic Channel show. This isn't a good format for a book, in my opinion. But then again, I read the audiobook, so I don't see these supposedly gorgeous photos. It's loaded with information, but nothing is gone into much depth in this short book.
August 8, 2022
Interesting but it was largely lost on me I think
Probably a poor choice of read from me rather than a bad book
Probably a poor choice of read from me rather than a bad book
December 17, 2021
For what this is, it's ok (a short book complementary to a National Geographic tv show about Mars). It's basically a collection of random small challenges and potential solutions. Not much depth, and not particularly prioritized based on anything but being interesting to the layperson and easy to explain. There was an excessive focus on the "sociology and psychology" elements earlier in the book.
What it covers (briefly), it does ok, and it covers things which are "interesting" to random people, but missing a lot of the important engineering parts (which would be very difficult to explain to people).
What it covers (briefly), it does ok, and it covers things which are "interesting" to random people, but missing a lot of the important engineering parts (which would be very difficult to explain to people).
October 19, 2021
This is a short summary of the efforts/plans for sending astronauts to Mars. It tied in with the National Geographic TV documentary on Mars. It is well written and helpful. But as I say, it is short. However, it made me happier to read another work from the author, "Moon Rush: The New Space Race."
I might read this book again as a quick review.
I might read this book again as a quick review.
November 15, 2022
A leitura de um livro tem de ser encarada considerando o estado da arte à altura da sua escrita. Marte: O Nosso Futuro no Planeta Vermelho é a versão escrita de um documentário homónimo da National Geographic e já começa a denotar a falta de alguns dos desenvolvimentos mais recentes acerca do tema. Porém, não deixa de ser um livro excelente sobre a perspectiva futura de chegarmos a Marte. Com fotografias lindíssimas, pequenas entrevistas bastante pertinentes e uma qualidade de papel e encadernação, este livro fornece uma muito interessante e descontraída leitura.
June 13, 2017
I picked this book to listen to on a whim and found it interesting. Space has always interested me so it was a topic I was already interested in. This short book provides a very realistic examination of what it will take for us to establish a colony on Mars. Definitely not high excitement reading but a very well researched and well presented look at the obstacles and the opportunities for humanity on the Red Planet.
May 11, 2021
No es un libro, es el resumen de una serie de televisión. Los textos son interesantes, la información útil, las fotos espectaculares. Pero se nota demasiado que no es el formato original. Un escritor le habría dado un enfoque más literario. Seguramente esta forma de contar todo lo que aparece en el libro funciona bien en un medio audiovisual, pero el libro no engancha.
September 25, 2021
Can we get to Mars? And if, so, can anyone live there? This book looks at the problems, dangers and options of a human trip to Mars, as well as filling in on what is happening at the moment in Martian exploration. Lots of fascinating photos and artwork, and plenty of interviews. It's just a little dry.
May 24, 2018
I liked this book more than I thought I would. Simple explanations of the science, interesting discussions, and as expected from National Geographic, stunning photographs. It increased my gratitude for our amazing earth.
August 27, 2019
Very interesting synopsis of the science/geopolitics it will take for a Mars mission. Left me thinking about the ramifications to both Earth and Mars of the cross contamination of life forms/possible lifeforms.
June 1, 2021
A short but interesting look at Mars exploration to date and into the future, covering potential and challenges to be overcome as well as the current state of Mars-related projects, science and technology.
December 31, 2024
Pointless puff piece with nice looking pictures that has aged hilariously bad. Taking Mars One seriously and thinking that governments will continue in the vanguard despite already talking about SpaceX (who would "help" them).
September 24, 2025
Plenty of scientific data and research to be appreciated in an abstract way, but it's hard to ignore that this is yet another book written on the euphoric wave of "Elon Musk is a visionary genius" belief that has since become dated.
June 12, 2017
Great pictures, but I found the text wooden.
June 2, 2017
A brief dive into the current scientific research, theories, and practical progress toward starting a Mars colony. Pretty cool stuff.
June 25, 2018
Great and realistic introduction to humanitys biggest challenge yet - colonizing Mars. Not the best book I have read, but well worth a read.
January 24, 2019
Great book. Love the feel of it. Heavy, dense, packed and slick at the same time. What`s not to love about it.
Read
May 6, 2021nmg.k.gu
Read
July 20, 2023this was enjoyable up till the last section glorifying Musk, Branson and Bezos. they can get fucked x
August 25, 2024
schönes Buch, aber nicht super informativ für meine Realschul Abchlusspräsentation damals
March 20, 2017
Great book on how important the future of NASA is. Maybe some of those uneducated trump supporters should read this.
November 9, 2016
Gorgeous photographs, amazing artists concepts pictures. The book is a companion piece to the National Geographic show that starts on Nov 14. It talks about the history of Mars exploration (yay Space Robots!!) What challenges need to be overcome to get boots on the ground. How the technology is just sooo close right now. Information as recent as Scott Kelly's year in space twin study. What challenges will arise to actually colonize the red planet. The challenges of terraforming it so the colonists could actually survive outside their habitation without space suits. The psychological issues of the big blue marble becoming a tiny insignificant dot. The physiological changes to long term low gravity living.
One of my favorite features is in between chapters it does a career highlight on someone involved in the drive to get a person on Mars, the last of which is Buzz Aldrin.
Great forward by Ron Howard ( a lot of times I skip the forward but read this one).
If the show is half as good as the book it will be amazing!
One of my favorite features is in between chapters it does a career highlight on someone involved in the drive to get a person on Mars, the last of which is Buzz Aldrin.
Great forward by Ron Howard ( a lot of times I skip the forward but read this one).
If the show is half as good as the book it will be amazing!
November 21, 2016
Leonard David’s thoroughly researched book contains a wealth of information on the technological and sociological hurdles that need to be surmounted to make humans on Mars a reality, as well as revealing what work is currently being done on the road to the Red Planet. The books is large format, filled with stunning, full-color images throughout that provide a feast for the eye, including actual images from our spacecraft as well as illustrations of what future missions might entail.
January 2, 2017
As fascinating as the National Geographic series was, the companion volume was even better. Lots of illustrations and plenty of inspiration, this book makes me want to live to at least 2045, by which time we should be landing settlers on Mars. I can't go, but to be alive then would be extraordinary.
April 13, 2017
As one might expect of something from National Geographic, this book is chock full of beautiful pictures supplemented by fact-rich text. Although putatively tied to the NatGeo Channel's "Mars" TV show, the book stands completely on its own. Its contents are quite up-to-the-minute current. Perhaps its weakest spots are where it tries to look into the far future. My favorite sections are its "Heroes": single-page bio/backgrounders that celebrate the work of those who have helped and are helping us reach for Mars.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews