Mars Rover Curiosity by Rob Manning and William L. Simon - Book Review #285

An Inside Account from

Curiosity's Chief Engineer

I love these kinds of behind-the-scenes books.

It is staggering to consider the amount of work and struggle that goes on to get a planetary mission approved, designed, funded, delayed, built, tested, re-tested, mated to a rocket, launched, testing while in flight, the Seven Minutes of Terror (see the video below), landing and testing on the ground before the rover moves at all.

This is the story of how the Mars Curiosity Rover came to be and how it made it to Mars.

If your one of those people who likes to learn how things are made, or you watch the DVD extras on the production of your favourite movie then this is a book you'll enjoy.

It was well written and engaging throughout.

The NADS Mars Science Laboratory website - https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/

Rob Manning

William L Simon

Landing on Mars.

It's funny; knowing we've landed on the moon and dropped rovers on Mars, I thought it wouldn't be that difficult to land humans.


After reading The Mars Dilemma from the October/November 2014 issue of Air & Space Smithsonian magazine, I was surprised to learn how little we know about landing humans there.  The two factors coming into play are: the thinness of the atmosphere and how massive a manned vehicle would need to be.

The article was written by co-authors Robert Manning ad William L. Simon who also wrote the book Mars Rover Curiosity, something I must read soon.

I found this article particularly insightful especially after reading The Martian by Andy Weir.  You can find my review of Weir's book is HERE.

The article in question can be found here :
http://www.airspacemag.com/space/mars-dilemma-180952797/?all

Air & Space Smithsonian magazine is something I'm subscribed too and enjoy the mix of aviation history and new space exploration news.  Their website is here:
http://www.airspacemag.com/