Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For fans of Spirit and Opportunity and the team that made them what they are, some of this book will be familiar - like Dr. Squyres' quotes about the launches, landings and images - but fans will still want to have it for all the other goodies.

Dr. Squyres answers questions we didn't see in media interviews - like:
-who is that EDL guy who looks like Elvis' younger brother?
-what does Dr. Steve hope for the Rovers centuries from now?
-how was beer involved in the MER project?
-how do smart, strong, stubborn people come together to do something so challenging?

Technical details abound - including stories about getting the airbags right, making it to the launchpad, and the INIT_CRIPPLED command that saved the day. The technical details remind me a bit of Tracey Kidder's Soul of the New Machine. So, I think it would be a fun read for fans of Kidder's book.

There are some press release images in the two sets of mostly color pictures, but there are also some fun surprises.

There is also an Appendix listing over 4,000 names - the best effort to name the entire MER team - wow.

(Let me start off by saying that I reserve 5 stars for books that are truly outstanding, not, like some Amazon reviewers, for any book that is just pretty good. For me, 4 stars is a VERY good rating.)

I have felt some lingering jealousy watching the videos of the rover control center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I support spacecraft for a living, but somehow what I've been doing hasn't seemed quite as exciting or sexy as working with rovers on Mars (and particularly not now, with Goddard's heyday apparently in the past.)

Squyres' book both dulls and enhances the glamor. He spends some time talking about the long, hard slog he took to become Principal Investigator for a Mars mission, starting in 1989 with an effort to develop a camera to fly on a NASA Mars mission. He proposed sticking it on a mission called MESUR Pathfinder in the early 90's and was turned down. He tried again to develop a science package to go to Mars in 1998, and that was turned down. NASA expressed interest again a few years later, he resubmitted, and it was turned down again. He put a lot of work into a complex set of missions set to start going to Mars in 2001, a program that was killed when Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander failed in quick succession.

By 2000, though, NASA was looking for a glamorous mission to redeem its Mars reputation, and Squyres' rover seemed to fit the bill. Not only was his mission chosen, but he was asked for two of them.

The schedule ended up being brutal, having to develop a complex mission inside of three years with the unforgiving, inflexible 2003 Mars launch window looming up ahead. Squyres relates several heroic tales of people who made the impossible possible, from Randy Lindemann coming up with a way to get 32 strings of solar cells on the rover (enough to provide reasonable assurances that it would last for 90 sols) to Adam Steltzner getting the parachutes to work to Matt Wallace assembling the rover components (and verifying them) on a ludicrously tight schedule. And you get the impression that there are dozens more stories like these that Squyres either didn't know about or didn't have space to tell. (The book includes an appendix with the names of those who worked on the rovers. There are more than four thousand of them, and Squyres admits that it's almost certainly not complete.)

There are crises of confidence as the rovers go over budget, and NASA threatens to cut one of them to ensure that sufficient attention is paid to the other. There are failed tests and last-minute problems and checks and re-checks. Even once the rovers get to Mars, Spirit has a nervous breakdown (later traced to an overflowing flash memory directory) just a few days in, right when the rover team really needs to concentrate on Opportunity's approach and landing. But Spirit recovers and Opportunity makes an interplanetary hole-in-one, right in front of the bedrock that every geologist wants to see.

The remainder of the book is a day-by-day recounting of what went on during rover operations and provides a rawer version of what those of us interested in the missions have learned in a more cut-and-dried form from press conferences and press releases. We get to read as Squyres and his team of geologists gradually convince themselves that there's no reasonable explanation for the features in Opportunity's Eagle Crater outcrop other than flowing water. He relates his disappointment as Spirit arrives at Bonneville and doesn't find bedrock, facing a long, hard drive to the Columbia Hills for even a chance at doing the geology the rover came to Mars to do. On the other hand, he relates the excitement as Opportunity descends into Endurance Crater, finding layer after layer to examine.

Then the rovers go into solar conjunction, and that's where the book ends. And that's probably the main criticism people are going to have with this book: it stops too soon. Other than Pot of Gold, the first rock Spirit happened upon in the Columbia Hills, there's little about what Spirit has learned. And Opportunity continued to explore Endurance Crater, checked out its heat shield, found the first meteorite to be encountered on Mars, and is now examining the edges of the "etched terrain." So there certainly needs to be a sequel.

The only other criticism might be that this is truly a journal, almost entirely a recounting, frequently day-by-day, of what it went through to build the rovers and then operate them on Mars. There's not much stepping back and looking at the bigger picture beyond that. But for us Mars junkies, getting behind-the-scenes of rover science and operations is fascinating all by itself. If that turns you on, then this is a great book to read.

Squyres is smart, dynamic and articulate, and gives the inside
story not only of the construction and operation of the rovers,
but also all the politics that led to the project in the first
place. It's a pretty gripping read, and makes the personalities
involved come to life, as well as the rovers themselves. Tech
fans will not be disappointed with the details of software,
grounding, parachute design and all of the nitty-gritty
problems that had to be fixed. I loved it.

+++++

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:

(1) Decision by NASA to go ahead with the Mars Exploration Rover mission: late July 2000.
(2) Principal Investigator: Dr. Steve Squyres, scientist and astronomy professor at Cornell University. (The principal investigator is the leader of a science team.)
(3) Purpose of mission: "the water story." That is, did Mars ever have water in its past? If so, we want "to learn whether or not [Mars] ever could have supported life."
(4) Plan: "Two rockets, two landers, two rovers, two of everything. Launch them both [from Earth] in 2003. Land them both [on Mars] and operate them both in 2004." (The rovers are the identical mechanical robots that roam the planet, image what they see and do geologic tests, and transmit their images and data back to Earth.)
(5) Names of rovers: Spirit (S) and Opportunity (O).
(6) Rover landing sites on Mars: Gusev Crater (S) and Meridiani Planum (O). (These sites are located on opposite sides of the planet.)
(7) Launch from Earth: early June 2003 (S); early July 2003 (O). (Mars is on average about 80 million kilometers or 50 million miles from Earth.)
(8) Landing on Mars: early January 2004 (S); late January 2004 (O).
(9) Final cost of mission: $800 million.
(10) Final length of mission: "As I [S. Squyres] write [these acknowledgements to my book on April 4, 2005], we are now 445 days into our 90-day mission [on] Mars." (The mission is still going as of the date I posted this review.)

These are some of the facts in this book written by Principal Investigator Dr. Steve Squyres. This easy to read book effectively tells us the human drama behind this mission with all its ups, downs, triumphs, tensions, dead ends, technical problems, politics, and just plain confusion.

The book is divided into 3 parts. To briefly summarize, the first part begins, of all places, in Moscow in 1987. This part concludes with the decision by NASA to go ahead with the Mars Exploration Rover mission. The second part deals with the technical development of the mission. It concludes with the launch of the rovers from Earth to Mars. Finally, the last part tells us about the successful landing of the rovers on Mars and their early discoveries. This part contains much more science than the previous two parts.

The narrative for the third part when the rovers were near and on Mars is in the form of log entries (selected days only). The first long entry for Spirit is dated December 28, 2003 and the final entry is for Sol 21. (A "sol" is a Martian day, about 24.5 hours.) For Opportunity, the first log entry is dated January 24, 2004 and the final entry is for Sol 48. Then there are log entries combining both rover activities starting April 12, 2004 and ending June 28, 2004. A concluding entry is dated September 12, 2004.

The above summary does not convey the overall excitement of the mission and how Squyres and his team overcame numerous odds in order to reach their objectives. There are numerous surprises along the way in all three parts of this story.

"Since 1977, Squyres had dreamed of exploring Mars, and after nearly two decades of planning and preparation, he got his chance." Thus, it is not surprising that his enthusiasm shines through as he tells this true story.

There are 2 sets of stunning mostly color photographs (almost 30 per set). It is at this point I should provide a warning. Some readers may be tempted just to read this book from the chapter where the rovers were launched and skip the previous chapters. Don't do it!! There is a photograph showing Squyres with his arms raised in victory as Spirit has successfully landed on Mars. Part of the caption of this photo reads "One of the best moments of my life." The emotional impact of this photo will be lost if you skip the previous chapters.

There is one illustration in this book. It is a schematic of "The MER Rover" showing its overall design and key components such as cameras, antennas, solar arrays, spectrometers, and its RAT.

There is a very helpful glossary containing terms and acronyms. Squyres likes his acronyms and uses them abundantly throughout the book. Thus, what I did was photocopy the 4 pages that make up this glossary so I did not have to continually flip to the back of the book. By the way, the acronym "MER" mentioned above stands for "Mars Exploration Rover" while "RAT" stands for "Rock Abrasion Tool." This is a grinding tool mounted on each rover arm whose function is to expose rock interiors.

There is also an appendix that lists more than 4000 names of everyone who worked on the MER mission. This is to convey that this mission was a team effort.

Finally, the only minor problem I had with this book is that it did not have schematic diagrams (or essentially maps) of where exactly the rovers landed on Mars and where they traveled to once they were on Mars. For example, Spirit landed near Gusev Crater. Where is this crater exactly? Or Opportunity land at Meridiani Planum. Where is it located exactly? Two drawn spheres showing the latitudes of Mars would have been very helpful. Then a dot on each sphere could have indicated the position of this crater and of Meridiani. The rovers venture out from these landing sites and discover key features along the way. A dot on each sphere could have also indicated each of these feature's positions on Mars.

In conclusion, this is a fascinating account of the beginnings of the Mars Exploratory Rover mission. This book makes the reader part of the historic team that built and flew what some say is the most significant space mission of this decade!!!

(first published 2005; acknowledgements; prologue; 3 parts or 18 chapters; main narrative 380 pages; glossary; appendix; index)

+++++

There's a book-length irony in Roving Mars. Early on, author Steve Squyres talks about the difference between scientists and engineers. Scientists want perfection, engineers whatever's "good enough." Scientists are inspiration, engineers perspiration. Scientists are idealistic, engineers are pragmatic. Steve Squyres is a scientist. In fact he's the chief scientist on the project. Yet, if ever there was an engineer's book, this is it. Roving Mars is far more about how Spirit and Opportunity were assembled than why. More about what the rovers found than what the discoveries mean. And a thousand times more about the minutest details of the two patches of Mars the rovers explored than the planetary big picture the terrain is part of. In other words, the book is relentlessly reductionist. Reading it feels like looking down a microscope for hundreds of pages. There's precious little context. It's virtually all trees, branches, leaves and cells, and almost no forest.

Is this a fair complaint? That depends on who there book was "written for." Unquestionably it was written for a lay audience, not the scientific community. But which lay audience?. If Squyres set out to write a book for people who are thrilled by the tiniest technical details about how many watts this resistor can bear versus that resistor, or how to wheedle your way through the labyrinth of NASA project approval, then he has succeeded brilliantly. But if he intended his book for people interested in the planet Mars, in thoughtful musings about why man explores and the significance of what he finds, or even just in some broader geological hypotheses around what the rovers are looking at, then he has fallen way short. Perhaps he or others might offer the explanation that it's too early for anything other than the story Squyers has told, after all the book was published long before the mission was even over. And that's the second big problem with the book.

Scientists want perfection, engineers whatever's "good enough." If that's true, then once again this is an engineer's book. Said kindly, it's the living embodiment of the "good enough" approach. Said not so kindly, it's the product of a "what's the cheapest, easiest way I can pump out a book to take advantage of all the rover publicity before it fades" approach. Not only did the book come out long before the mission was over or any thoughtful big picture reflection on the mission had occurred, Squyers took the ultimate shortcut and built the book largely around passages from a journal he was keeping during the mission. So what we get are only the impulse thoughts of the moment and none of the benefits of hindsight or subsequent learning. I'm more than certain he would never allow himself to take such a lackadaisical approach with one of his spacecraft. Why does he allow himself to take it with one of his books?

When I bought this book, I was hoping to get some of the data I hadn't seen on the JPL web site. Maybe something more science related, with some APXS or infrared spectra for me to look at. This
is not what you get: most pictures are the ones found on the web site or already well known from the litterature targeted to a wide audience.
What you do get is an illustration of how perseverant and rigorous you have to be to get a space mission successful. A recount of the numerous proposals sent to NASA, sometimes rejected, sometimes canceled. And finally how after many years of sending new requests one finally goes through, and a lifetime's work gets to Mars. About 2/3 of the books are a description of the mission taking shape on Earth and the various technical activities for getting the rovers to space. It does show that a successful space mission is not just shear luck, and that what we see during a launch is the result of a very meticulous process. The last third of the book describes a daly recount of the rover's missions, with some descritpion of the hypothesis discussed for explaining the observed results, some of them I had never seen on the web before (maybe because too far fetched or not relevant to the general public).
This book is not a scientific review of the results of the MER rovers: it will just make you wish more than ever you could be part of this space exploration adventure.

Squyres gets across the nuts and bolts -- and the emotional roller-coaster -- of planetary probe science and engineering: submitting and revising proposal after proposal, putting together the team, racing against a launch window while swatting bugs in testing, holding your breath for launch and landing, and conducting rover operations.

It's not the place to read about the scientific results from Spirit and Opportunity, but you won't find a better (or better-written) account of everything that went into getting those results (and why it cost $800M). Nor will you find a more eloquent resolution of tired manned-vs-unmanned squabbles than the book's closing lines:

"There are many things I could wish for our rovers, but in the end, there's only one that matters. What I really want, more than anything else, is boot prints in our wheel tracks at Eagle Crater."

Many people think you have to be a secret agent, a rock star or a billionaire with her or his own television show in order to live an exciting, adventuresome life. Wrong!

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!

This book was a lot of fun to read, both for the science of what they're finding on Mars, and for all the engineering stories of making the rovers work.

Squyres is an engaging storyteller. His sound bites in news articles often sound like "golly-gee-whiz" science booster stuff. But when giving the whole story himself, you get a feel for the inner enthusiasm which drives him, esp. in the face of real-world funding and other battles that must be fought.

I found the chapters on previous, failed proposals to be especially interesting, and a little inspiring. Many life lessons can be taken from someone who spent over 10 years and worked through several failed proposals until he got his moment in the sun with the rovers. A lesson in true dedication and single-mindedness.

Of course the engineering tales are great. Like the movie Apollo 13, it did a really nice job of highlighting the clever and ingenious work done at NASA all the time. From the parachute problems and pyro questions, to work done after the landing with making sure Opportunity would be able to survive a descent into Endurance Crater, some truly memorable feats were accomplished. Especially impressive given the stressful time schedules and political pressure from NASA brass still embarrassed about previous mission failures.

In fact, if I had any criticism of the book, it's that Squyres seems to focus on engineering crises, to the point where you're wondering how things can work at all. Of course problems make for more interesting reading, but it would have been nice to build up the engineering teams a bit more. 2 years after landing, it's obvious that Spirit and Opportunity are stunning machines.

Finally, Squyres does an outstanding job describing the science and exploration accomplished since landing. News articles etc. are nice for following along day to day, but Squyres is really great when given a few chapters to put together the whole picture of what's been discovered so far. It's relatively technical, but easy to follow as he draws you in and builds his case.

Highly recommended. A well told and really fun read.

In "Roving Mars," you get the bonus of reading three compelling stories for the price of one.

Steve Squyres, the PI (Principal Investigator) of the Mars Rover mission and author of this book, does an admirable job of weaving together three absorbing stories into one:

== THE JOURNEY
== THE PEOPLE
== THE CHALLENGES

THE JOURNEY: Squyres tells an interesting and true tale: the 15-plus year journey of taking an idea and turning it into the reality of "six wheels in the dirt," when the twin Rovers rolled off their landers and into the red soil of Mars. This is an exciting story of luck (good and bad), but ultimately one of perseverance.

THE PEOPLE: Another element that makes this a good read is the very human story of the people who made it happen. It was the combination of dedicated engineers, scientists, NASA and JPL managers, nobodies, and Squyres himself that came together to deliver a best in class mission. Squyres does a good job of acknowledging that he was only one part of this massive effort, and in recognizing the many people who played a role in bringing Spirit and Opportunity to life.

THE CHALLENGES: For those who love the story of a challenge, you will not be disappointed. There are many retellings of significant challenges that had to be overcome - from the expected (funding and NASA management approvals), to the unexpected (the case of the blown fuse that almost killed the mission). Again, the insight and ingenuity of the human scientists and engineers in overcoming these challenges is inspiring as well as a good read.

Overall, "Roving Mars" does an excellent job of explaining the science where needed and putting the story of two distant robot observers into human terms. It turns these stories into an adventure; pulling us in and creating a book that is hard to put down.

Ultimately Squyres succeeds in ending the stories with a hope: "...boot prints in our wheel tracks..." - the day when human explorers of Mars come across the finally worn out but intrepid Spirit and Opportunity. In a way, he has already taken us there.

== John A. Purdy