Category Archives: Mars

Mars

See the Schiaparelli Resting Place on Mars

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High-res Image of the Schiaparelli Lander’s Final Hit Point

mars crash site for schiaparelli
Composite of the ExoMars Schiaparelli module elements seen by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on 1 November 2016. Both the main impact site (top) and the region with the parachute and rear heatshield (bottom left) are seen in the central portion of the HiRISE imaging swath. The front heatshield (bottom right) lies outside the central colour imaging swath.
 NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

This is a sad image, but it at least tells us more about the Schiaparelli lander’s fate. It left ExoMars last month and then catastrophically fell to the ground just moments before a planned soft landing.  You can clearly see pieces of the lander (the parachute and rear heatshield) not far from the blast where the lander crashed (and presumably its fuel tanks exploded on contact).

As I mentioned in a previous post, Mars is hard. And, there will be times when we prang a spacecraft. It’s like aviation: aircraft and pilots have problems.  In the early days, lots of problems happened. It’s important that we get Mars landings right before we send people to the Red Planet. Even then, as Gus Grissom said about spaceflight, “We are in a risky business.”

What that means is, ESA and NASA and all the others who want to go to Mars will work to get it right, but also recognize that these things can and will happen. Also as Gus said (and learned): “the conquest of space is worth the risk of life.”

I hope that the next time ESA lands one of these, all goes well and they are successful. They have a working orbiter from the ExoMars mission, and it will be gathering science for some time to come. Let’s focus on that, too, and wish them the best!

book review, books, Mars

A New Book About the Future Exploration of Mars

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Your Future on Mars

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Mars exploration is described in Leonard David’s new book, published by National Geographic as a companion to a TV series.

I’m in the middle of reading a new book about the exploration of Mars, written by my friend Leonard David. Specifically, he’s written about our future exploration and life on the Red Planet. It’s called Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet, and it’s a companion book to the National Geographic series . It, too, is about future exploration of the planet and premieres on November 14th.  I’ve written about the planet and what it will be like in the future to live and work there on this blog many times. So, you know that I’m that excited about it. In the book I’m currently writing, I also talk about future trips there. I KNOW that we’ll get to the Red Planet eventually.

When this book arrived on my review pile, I was equally excited to start reading it.  What I’ve read so far is pretty cool. As you first open it, you get to see highly detailed surface images and maps of the planet, showing just what the planet looks like. The introduction by the Mars video director Ron Howard shares his excitement about Mars (he’s my age and we both watched the Apollo landings at the same time (although not together) and you can tell he’s jazzed about it.  Leonard takes over after that, and for the next six chapters, he weaves the story of Martian exploration and colonization.

Getting to the Nitty Gritty of Exploring Mars

The idea of going to Mars is percolating through a lot of brains these days. As he wrote and researched the book, Leonard talked with many of the movers and shakers in the space community to get a sense of the challenges. (Leonard is a longtime space advocate himself — we first met at a Case For Mars conference in the early 1980s). From Elon Musk to NASA astronauts, everyone agrees it’s going to be hard. But, exploration is never easy.  We knew that even as kids during the glory days of the first space age.   As I’m reading, I imagine a younger version of myself checking out this book, resolving to get to the Red Planet no matter what.

I’m about a third of the way through the book (it arrived a week or so back), so I’ll report more when I’m finished. But, so far, I like it! Going to Mars is complex, and so is the tale. It’s well-illustrated, giving the real eye as well as the mind’s eye a chance to see the beauty of humanity’s future on the Red Planet. It will not be an easy future, but the book is pretty clear: it IS in our future!