10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent collection of NASA documents for serious enthusias, June 4, 2000
This review is from: MARS 2000: The Complete Guide to Robotic and Human Exploration of the Red Planet (CD-ROM)
World Spaceflight News has done serious spaceflight enthusiasts a big favor with this compiliation of over 10,000 pages of NASA documents related to Mars flights. Unlike most space-related CD that are heavy on multimedia and fancy interfaces but lacking in information, this CD is pure meat......a virtual library of documents, many dificult to impossible to obtain outside of large university libraries, jammed into a single disk. The CD consists of a score of NASA documents, some quite technical, on recent Mars probes in Adobe PDF format. Additionally, there are image galleries (also unfortunately in PDF format rather than JPEGs, which prevent transfer to photo editing programs for cropping and printing)of about 250 photos from Viking and Mars Pathfinder and a few Hubble and Global Surveyor photos as well.
The bulk of the CD consists of lots of NASA documents related to the Viking, Mars Pathfinder/Global Surveyor, and the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander/Climate orbiter programs (the CD was produced prior to the loss of both spacecraft). Documents related to the now-cancelled Mars 2001 programs are also included. Especially valuable are the Viking, Mars Pathfinder/Global Surveyor and Mars 98 press kits, the out-of print NASA history of the Viking project, "On Mars", the Mariner 4 final project report,and the complete abstracts (many one or two page mini-articles with photos)of the 1999 Mars conference which details current scientific thinking on Martian geology, climatology, and potential for life.
Reproduction quality is generally comparable to the original documents (although many original NASA reports, especially early ones, were printed rather poorly to begin with, while more recent ones are of high quality)and the photos in the image gallery are excellent.
Although many of the documents are available on the Internet, many are not, and the sheer sizes of these documents could take a long time to download over ordinary phone lines; here they can load in seconds.
While I would not recommend this collection for those who are only casually interested in Mars exploration, for serious enthusiasts of space, historians and potential authors, this collection is invaluable if not essential. WSN deserves high praise for bringing us this collection, and one hopes they continue archiving and preserving official NASA history at an affordable price.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent collection of NASA documents, June 4, 2000
This review is from: MARS 2000: The Complete Guide to Robotic and Human Exploration of the Red Planet (CD-ROM)
World Spaceflight News has done a great service for serious hardcore space enthusiasts as well as for historians in releasing this CD-ROM collection of NASA documents. Unlike most space-related CDs, this is not heavy on multimedia and sparse on information, instead it is a virtual library of NASA reports and documents, loaded with information, some quite technical. The bulk of the CD is several thousand pages of official NASA documents related to recent Mars exploration reproduced in Adobe PDF format. Especially useful are the press kits for the Viking, Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor and the ill-fated Mars 98 projects. Also included are the official NASA history of the Viking Project, "On Mars", and the complete abstracts of a 1999 Mars conference. There are many additional documents, including quite technical documents related to the Mars 98 projects. Topping it off is a series of PDF image galleries of about 250 images from Viking, Pathfinder, and Global Surveyor.
Reproduction quality is fairly comparable to the original NASA documents (some of which were poorly printed to begin with while others are of excellent quality) and quite suitable for printing if you are willing to burn through many printer cartridges. Many if not most of the documents are out of print and very hard to obtain, although some can be downloaded from the Web. However, the enormous file sizes of some of these documents would take hours to download unless you have access to T-1 lines, while this CD allows you to access the documents in seconds.
While I would not recommend this CD to those with only a casual interest in Mars exploration, after all, NASA documents are rather dry, this is an invaluable resource for serious space enthusiasts, as well as for authors and historians studying the history of Mars exploration.
World Spaceflight News has done an invaluable service in making these documents available and one hopes that they continue with additional CDs.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent product, July 6, 2006
This review is from: MARS 2000: The Complete Guide to Robotic and Human Exploration of the Red Planet (CD-ROM)
It is very important to go to Mars. So far we have had unmanned missions. Perhaps in the future we will go to this fantastic world and we settle it. I am an invalid. On Mars there is a less gravity, and perhaps we can live better there.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
