Trailblazing Mars: NASA's Next Giant Leap

by Pat Duggins

Overview

Travel to and from Mars has long been a staple of science fiction. And yet the hurdles--both technological and financial--have kept human exploration of the red planet from becoming a reality. Trailblazing Mars offers an inside look at the current efforts to fulfill this dream.

Award-winning journalist Pat Duggins examines the extreme new challenges that will be faced by astronauts on the journey there and back. They'll have to grow their own food, find their own water, and solve their own problems and emergencies without hope of rescue or re-supply. Mars travel will be more challenging and hazardous than settling the Old West--but we were not witness to the fate of the Donner Party on CNN.

Can the technological hurdles be cleared? Will the public accept the very real possibility of astronaut death? Should a mission be publicly or privately funded? Is the science worth the cost? These and many other questions are answered in Duggins's exciting new book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813037493
Publisher:	University Press of Florida
Publication date:	09/19/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Pat Duggins is news director at Alabama Public Radio and author of Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program. He covered more than 100 space shuttle missions for NPR, starting with the 1986 Challenger accident and including three hours of live coverage following the 2003 loss of Columbia.

Editorial Reviews

Right from the start Duggins (Final Countdown) engages readers with the social context of space exploration. While the existing knowledge of Mars and the challenges of sending a human being to the red planet are the focus of the book, Duggins also provides an enjoyable, illustrated history of the space program, informing us that "The debate over the human risk and the breathtaking cost of sending astronauts to Mars... goes back even farther than the first launch of Shuttle Columbia in 1981." Readers will relive the program's tragedies, triumphs, and frustrations as Duggins details the particular challenges of life on Mars, drawing comparisons to pioneers of America's westward expansion and the scientists who spent two years in the Biosphere. From engineering fresh water to growing food in a contained, limited environment, a human trip to Mars is a complicated undertaking made more challenging by the length of the journey. With Mars exploration proposed for the 2030s, Duggins's timely and engrossing study will interest explorers and armchair astronauts alike, and remind readers of the excitement of outer space. Photos. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Keeps the fire of exploration going, looking out to the day when humans will make the trailblazing trek to Mars.”—Coalition for Space Exploration

“Duggins gives you the how of the process along with the facts. Who knows what trails this book will help blaze? Read on.”—Bill Nye the Science Guy® and executive director of The Planetary Society

“Duggins’s timely and engrossing study will interest explorers and armchair astronauts alike, and remind readers of the excitement of outer space.”—Publishers Weekly

“Examines the history of NASA’s robotic exploration of the Red Planet and the agency’s plans for future human exploration. . . . Emphasizes the widespread belief that if human exploration of Mars is to take place, astronauts will have to ‘live off the land’ like Earth-bound explorers of the past.”—Quest

“Digs through the history of space exploration as well as the various issues associated with the exploration of Mars.”—Space Review

From the Publisher