Since telescopes first glimpsed the Red Planet in the 1600s, Mars has been a source of endless fascination—for its potential habitability and possibility that traces of ancient life reside in its rocky terrain. See the desert world through the eyes of NASA’s rovers, probes, and orbiters, from the first flyby in 1965 to today’s Perseverance rover.
Since telescopes glimpsed the surface of the Red Planet in the 1800s, Mars has been a source of endless fascination—for its potential habitability and the possibility that traces of ancient life forms reside in its polar ice caps, valleys, and volcanoes. See the desert world through the eyes of NASA’s rovers, probes, and orbiters, from the first flyby in 1965 to the present-day Perseverance rover.
Since telescopes glimpsed the surface of the Red Planet in the 1800s, Mars has been a source of endless fascination—for its potential habitability and the possibility that traces of ancient life forms reside in its polar ice caps, valleys, and volcanoes. See the desert world through the eyes of NASA’s rovers, probes, and orbiters, from the first flyby in 1965 to the present-day Perseverance rover.
Ever since ancient astronomers gazed up at a distant ruby spark in the night sky and named it for their god of war, Mars has captivated the human imagination as a source of endless speculation and a beacon of hope for its potential habitability. The many mysteries of the fourth planet from the sun are uncovered through six decades of missions and pioneering research at NASA—photographs have revealed a rocky world, visually so much like our own, that likely supported ancient life.See the earliest close-up images of Mars taken by the Mariner 4 spacecraft in 1965, the first ever captured of another planet, along with historical illustrations, before scientific advancement matched our curiosity. Science and art collide as NASA’s later missions capture ancient riverbeds, polar ice caps, dust devils, vast canyons, and formidable volcanoes in an endlessly varied landscape. As they traverse Mars’ scarred surface, NASA’s rovers have operated as mechanical extensions of humankind for the past 25 years—until we can get there ourselves—marveling at mountain ranges and blue sunsets, drilling holes, and searching for traces of water.Through hundreds of cutting-edge photographs from NASA and JPL’s extensive archives, we join NASA scientists in the ongoing quest to better understand Mars. Essays from some of the masterminds behind NASA’s missions to the Martian planet James L. Green and Robert Manning, curator Margaret Weitekamp, poet Nikki Giovanni, and more illuminate the latest electrifying research on the red planet and its enduring hold on our culture.
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For anyone with a love of astrophotography, space exploration, or simply the beauty of the unknown, this book is an essential addition to any collection. * Digital Camera World * A must-have resource for anyone wishing to explore the fourth planet from the Sun. * Sky Arte * Works of art created by nature, photos from the red planet in Mars. Photographs from the NASA Archives: a compilation of impressive images to revel in and discover. * Kulturzeit, 3sat * As you have never seen Mars before: A new illustrated book brings together images from six decades of Mars exploration. On 340 pages, Mars combines a wealth of spectacular images of the planet. * GEO * Mars is clearly the best planet, a red fire in the night sky. Here it is fabulously revealed. * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung * This new book celebrates the missions that have enriched our understanding of Mars and looks to a future where humans explore the Red Planet. * New Scientist * Mars must be the most imagined, most described, but never visited landscape in the universe. It holds onto its secrets stubbornly remaining almost within our grasp but tantalizingly out of reach. And still, it continues to draw our attention, an object of lifelong fascination leading some onto explore. More than that: to hope and to dream for reasons that are as ancient as the landscapes themselves. * BBC * Mars is the best planet because Mars is a mirror. We look to it and we see ourselvesour past and possibility, and, with some imagination, our future. * The Atlantic *
Emily Lakdawalla is a planetary scientist, freelance science writer, educator, space artist, and namesake of asteroid (274860) Emilylakdawalla. Her first book, The Design and Engineering of Curiosity: How the Mars Rover Performs Its Job, was published in 2018.
James L. Green, PhD, is NASAs Chief Scientist. In a more than four decades-long career at the agency, where he also served as director of NASAs planetary program, he has led more than a dozen successful missions, including the landing of the Curiosity Rover on Mars, the New Horizons flyby of Pluto, and the MESSENGER spacecraft to Mercury.
Margaret Weitekamp, PhD, is the chair of the Space History department at the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum, where she curates the social and cultural history of spaceflight collection. In additional to her scholarly publishing, she also wrote an award-winning childrens book about Pluto.
Nikki Giovanni is a writer, educator, activist, and one of Americas most prominent poetic voices. She has published numerous collections of poems, essays, and childrens books, including Bicycles: Love Poems and Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection. She is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech.
Rob Manning is Chief Engineer for NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory as well as Chief Engineer for JPLs Engineering and Science Directorate. He has been designing, testing, and operating robotic spacecraft for 40 years including Galileo to Jupiter, Cassini to Saturn, and Magellan to Venus, and many Mars missions.
