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Mars Mission 1:: Surviving the Kessler Effect
Christopher Lee Jones creates an epic sci-fi adventure in which the world's dependence on satellites is demonstrated when two satellites are suddenly destroyed by missiles. The aftermath of the attach induces the ”Kessler Effect,” where collisions between satellites cause a domino-effect of more collisions generating more debris, eventually damaging all satellites and any other Low Earth Orbit objects, such as the International Space Station (ISS), where three astronauts are fighting for their life. The effect also cuts communication between the first Mission to Mars leaving them in peril and on their own to fight for survival. How long before they can regain communication with Cap Com? Will the Kessler Effect delay their return to the Earth if so for how long?A cliff hanging thriller for all ages.
344 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 24, 2020
About the author
Christopher Jones
518 books18 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 13, 2023
This book had a promising premise. The Kessler Effect leaves a manned Mars mission entirely on its own. Sounds gripping, right? Well...it should have been. While it was clear that the author put a lot of thought into his vision of a manned mission to Mars, and while many of his characters felt decently-constructed, he had some implementation problems that all but ruined the whole thing for me.
It felt like the author had three potential novels in his head, didn't feel like he had enough material for any one of them--or didn't think any one of them on their own had enough draw--so decided to try to weave them together.
I might have remembered that any manned mission beyond the Moon will, by default, have a high degree of autonomy and self-reliance, mainly for logistical reasons. Which means it shouldn't matter so much if the astronauts lose communication with Earth (Ben Bova's take on a Mars mission notwithstanding.). Unfortunately, the mission design flaw the author chose for complicating the mission didn't strike me as realistic.
The Earth-orbit plight of the ISS crew was done, IMO, far better in the film "Gravity" (concerns about the tensions between the Kessler Effect and real-world orbital dynamics nothwithstanding).
The Earth-bound consequences of the Kessler Effect could have been a compelling political thriller on its own.
In short, none of the plots carried enough dramatic tension--Jones might have been better off choosing one and developing it more. Add to that the awkward telling of a great many things that could have been shown and the excessive exposition. Moreover, much of the narrative was repetitive, and the dialogue unnatural. To top it all off, I noticed a great many typographical errors, mainly misplaced quotation marks and some usage errors that should have been caught by even a cursory editing pass by a second set of eyes (and for that, I got the impression that the author ran a spell-check and called it good).
In conclusion, it looked to me like Jones published if not his first, then his second draft. At least it read fairly quickly, even if the piece as a whole was disappointing.
It felt like the author had three potential novels in his head, didn't feel like he had enough material for any one of them--or didn't think any one of them on their own had enough draw--so decided to try to weave them together.
I might have remembered that any manned mission beyond the Moon will, by default, have a high degree of autonomy and self-reliance, mainly for logistical reasons. Which means it shouldn't matter so much if the astronauts lose communication with Earth (Ben Bova's take on a Mars mission notwithstanding.). Unfortunately, the mission design flaw the author chose for complicating the mission didn't strike me as realistic.
The Earth-orbit plight of the ISS crew was done, IMO, far better in the film "Gravity" (concerns about the tensions between the Kessler Effect and real-world orbital dynamics nothwithstanding).
The Earth-bound consequences of the Kessler Effect could have been a compelling political thriller on its own.
In short, none of the plots carried enough dramatic tension--Jones might have been better off choosing one and developing it more. Add to that the awkward telling of a great many things that could have been shown and the excessive exposition. Moreover, much of the narrative was repetitive, and the dialogue unnatural. To top it all off, I noticed a great many typographical errors, mainly misplaced quotation marks and some usage errors that should have been caught by even a cursory editing pass by a second set of eyes (and for that, I got the impression that the author ran a spell-check and called it good).
In conclusion, it looked to me like Jones published if not his first, then his second draft. At least it read fairly quickly, even if the piece as a whole was disappointing.
April 20, 2024
The future
An amazing sequence of events that you can actually believe is happening. A fast moving and always exciting novel. I myself didn’t know what the Kessler Effect was but now I hope it never happens. This story is put together really well and all the situations fit right together. I can’t wait to find out what happens to the Mars crew.
An amazing sequence of events that you can actually believe is happening. A fast moving and always exciting novel. I myself didn’t know what the Kessler Effect was but now I hope it never happens. This story is put together really well and all the situations fit right together. I can’t wait to find out what happens to the Mars crew.
November 2, 2021
Plausible.
Good story line with well
thought out characters.
Good job, enjoyable book.
Looking forward to the
sequel by this author.
Good story line with well
thought out characters.
Good job, enjoyable book.
Looking forward to the
sequel by this author.
December 24, 2021
Kudos
Loved his style of writing. Hope to see volume2 soon. Hope to see Bob and Bryan more involved in next book.
Loved his style of writing. Hope to see volume2 soon. Hope to see Bob and Bryan more involved in next book.
January 28, 2022
Despite the sometimes clunky characters, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the central idea of the race against time on both earth and Mars caused by the Kessler effect of the books title. Mars is very much on my mind these days and I found this book believable and the science interesting. Great read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews