Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet

In Roving Mars, Professor Squyres shows that scientists and engineers can have astonishing adventures as they push back the boundaries of ignorance all around the universe.

He was a typical junior in college when a chance happening led to joining a graduate seminar based on the new photos from the Viking lander in 1977. Looking at the images, he was struck that water had probably once been abundant on Mars. That quick epiphany led to an astonishing journey to becoming the principal investigator for the most successful Mars project ever, The Mars Exploration Rover mission.

Has there been lots of water on Mars? You bet. The Rover mission proved that and raised even more intriguing questions about the potential to find fossils on Mars.

The scientists and engineers spoil us sometimes. We see the results of years of effort by thousands of people working almost flawlessly. That makes it look easy. Behind the scenes, the story is quite different. There's lots of blood, sweat, tears and frustration as astonishing goals are turned into reality.

If you know a youngster who thinks he or she might want to work on planetary science or exploration, you need to give that youngster a copy of this book. You will probably chance a life in the same way that the Viking images changed Professor Squyres' life.

Although there's lots of science and engineering in the book, anyone with a couple of years of high school should be able to follow the discussion. Professor Squyres has a common touch that you'll find irresistible.

When you are done enjoying the book, go to the NASA Web site where you can see the latest updates on the mission. The two rovers are as busy as ever adding to our knowledge of Mars.

My hat is off to Professor Squyres and all those who helped make this remarkable mission possible!


A fascinating peek behind the NASA curtain...   September 6, 2005
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

If you're one of the countless thousands of people who rush home from work each day and go online right away to check out the latest pictures beamed back by the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, "Spirit" and "Opportunity", then this book is a Must Buy. You'll already be pretty familiar with the public MER program - the happy, relaxed press conferences, the smiling NASA techs describing the latest stunning panorama, etc - but if you want to know what inspired the building of the rovers, how huge a struggle it was to get them built, and learn about the unbelievable political and scientific street-brawling that goes on in the dark, hallowed halls of JPL and other NASA facilities, well, this book will be perfect. Names you've seen countless times on websites and .pdf documents will be revealed as real people, with real attitudes and real characters; engineers and scientists you thought of as placid, clipboard-carrying geeks will be revealed as passionate space advocates who live, eat, and sleep Mars. This is the definitive account of the missions of Spirit and Opportuinity - so far.

The book isn't without its faults though: some sections are a little dry, and don't have as much emotional input by Steve Squyres as the others, but you can forgive him that - he was rather busy looking after an almost-a-billion-dollar project, after all. But the insights into the building, construction and testing of the rovers is every bit as emotional a rollercoaster as the sections describing the landings... ah, I remember those mornings... reading this book brought it all flooding back.

Other books have prettier pictures, more flowery descriptions and more "space age" drama, but this was written by THE man behind the MERs, who first thought of them, fought like a mountain lion to get them funded and built, and kept fighting to get them sent to Mars. In the future, when people are on Mars, copies of this book will be carried with them, and placed beside the rovers themselves, I'm sure of that.

Definitely worth buying if you've even a passing interest in Mars and space exploration.