Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days with the Phoenix Mars Mission [Hardcover]

Andrew Kessler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2011

Spend a summer exploring the Martian Arctic
There's never been a better time to be an armchair astronaut. Forget this planet. The economy is terrible, global warming is inevitable, and there are at least eight major wars happening right now. That's why Kessler left home and moved to Mars. Well, not all the way to Mars. The closest spot on Earth you can get without a rocket. In the summer of 2008, he lived his space dream, spending three months in mission control with 130 top scientists and engineers as they explored Mars. This story is a human drama about modern-day Magellans battling NASA politics, temperamental robots, and the bizarre world of daily life in mission control. Kessler was the first outsider ever granted unfettered access to such an event, giving us a true Mission-to-Mars exclusive.

The Phoenix Mars mission was the first man-made probe ever sent to the Martian arctic. They wanted to find out how climate change can turn a warm, wet planet (read: Earth) into a cold, barren desert (read: Mars). Some might call it a trivial pursuit, but it's probably the most impressive feat we humans can achieve, and it took the culmination of nearly the entirety of human knowledge to do it.

Along the way, Phoenix discovered a giant frozen ocean trapped beneath the north pole of Mars, exotic food for aliens and liquid water. This is not science fiction. It's fact. Not bad for a summer holiday. 16 pages of color photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers will thrill to this slightly offbeat firsthand account of scientific determination and stubborn intellect. Kessler, producer of a Discovery Channel documentary on Mars and the self-professed winner of "the space-nerd lottery," was allowed to shadow the 2009 Phoenix Mars Lander mission, which would make the groundbreaking discovery of water and ice on Mars. A product of NASA's 1990s "faster, cheaper, better" mantra, Phoenix had none of the space program's usual bells and whistles, with a recycled lander and a mission control with a decided "church basement aesthetic." But there was free ice cream. Offered this unique opportunity, Kessler felt some self-doubt and had trouble adjusting to a work schedule set by the long Mars days. But along with his own witty personality, he captures the lively scientists behind the project, from Peter Smith, "world's greatest Martian Photographer," to Matt Robinson, a robot arm expert. Kessler also captures the frustrations and triumphs of a project in which a 15-minute communications lag between Mars and Earth meant anything could go wrong. This behind-the-scenes look delivers a fascinating journey of discovery peppered with humor. (Apr.)
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Review

“Readers will thrill to this slightly offbeat firsthand account of scientific determination and stubborn intellect...This behind-the-scenes look delivers a fascinating journey of discovery peppered with humor.” (Publishers Weekly )

“A candid and precise account of the ups and downs of a space mission.  This book shows what it is to participate in a short and intense landed Mars expedition.  It gives the feel of the pressure and excitement at mission control, where engineers, managers and scientists work together while trying to satisfy contradictory requirements, showing the human side of science with refreshing honesty.” (Nilton Renno, Professor of Atmospheric and Space sciences, University of Michigan )

“It is as if I imagined Holden Caulfield writing about the mission. Martian Summer is a riot.” (Peter Smith, Professor, Lunar and Planetory Laboratory, University of Arizona, and Principal Investigator of the Phoenix Project )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Pegasus (April 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1605981761
• ISBN-13: 978-1605981765
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.6 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,077,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #98 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Mars

More About the Author

Andrew Kessler is a writer living in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in The New York Times and on The Discovery Channel. He holds a degree in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. This is his first book about Mars -- or any planet for that matter.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story, Interesting Look Into Mission Control April 2, 2011

By Joe

Format:Hardcover

I lucked into an advance copy of this book and it's a great read. Kessler's unique access into the weird and wacky world of space, space robots, space politics, and the long Martian day is something anyone who has ever thought about being an astronaut can appreciate (and who hasn't thought about being an astronaut?).

And because the author is a layman, it's accessible for a normal person. A good story peppered with wit, incredible science, and good ol' fashioned space drama. Highly recommended.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not great literature, but a fun eyewitness account of a mission May 4, 2011

By Ralph Lorenz

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Having been involved in some early testing of instrumentation on the Phoenix lander
and knowing many of the participants personally, I was eager to read this account
of the landed operations, although like the mission itself, early results were
frustrating.

The book contains a number of factual errors (e.g. the Cassini camera was not the
first to use CCDs in space, the person referred to as a chief scientist for NASA
was not the NASA Chief Scientist, etc.) which reinforces the impression that the
author doesnt fully understand everything he writes about (an innocence the author
freely admits).

The color photo section is very poorly thought-out: images seemingly chosen at random
and often shown in an aspect ratio that leaves details invisibly small while leaving
60% of the page as white space.

I found the style a bit jarring - while informality is great, it can be overdone (the
author adds a presumably onomatopoeic 'pew pew pew' at just too many mentions of
the LIDAR). Lots of short sentences and paragraphs. In short, written more like a
blog than a book.

All the above aside, this really is a fascinating story of a mission unfolding, warts
and all. The interactions between scientists, and between scientists, engineers, managers
and the media, and the team's (and the author's) fight against fatigue while working
on Mars time, are shown in a first-hand, close quarters account, full of direct
quotes. I'd consider it essential reading for anyone planning a landed mission
on another world.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A "you are there" reading experience August 16, 2011

By Jaylia3 TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

So far no one has had a chance to walk around on Mars, but the scientists and engineers involved with the Phoenix Mars Lander mission lived as if they were there on the red planet during the summer of 2008, and Martian Summer takes its reader along for the ride. Since the length of Martian day is 37 minutes longer than an Earth day special watches were commissioned--it would be great to have one of those Mars adapted timepieces--and blackout curtains were deployed to keep everyone at the warehouse that served as Mission Control on Mars time. "Everyone" included "everyman" author Andrew Kessler, an ordinary, non-genius guy, who has written a mesmerizing behind the scenes account of the kind of passion and nonlinear problem solving that goes into a big, exciting, collaborative science venture. Phoenix was a partnership program under the direction of NASA, but led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona and it was Peter's idea to give Kessler inside access so he could write a book about the mission for the general public. NASA has since canceled the Scout Program that Phoenix was a part of, so for the time being there will be no more citizen accounts of freelance-led missions to Mars or anywhere else. The next NASA mission to Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity, is scheduled to launch in late 2011.