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Title: Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days with the Phoenix Mars Mission
Author: Andrew Kessler
Genre: Pop science
Thingummies: 2.5
Synopsis: A writer is imbedded with the team controlling the 2008 Mars lander.
Thoughts: This was a great idea that kind of feels like it was wasted.
The topic is fascinating--a writer tags along with the team running the 2008 Phoenix mission to Mars, attending the science sessions, watching the engineers, getting horrible time lag along with everyone else. It's a chance to get inside a world that's usually closed-door, and it's insight into what's probably going on right now with the Curiosity lander team. The scientists and engineers are fascinating, dedicated people trying to do cutting edge science on a budget under some incredibly difficult conditions.
My problem is that the writer's tone is so twee I wanted to strangle the guy. He's smart--he's got a degree in math from Berkeley. But he writes in the persona of a doofus, in what's obviously an attempt to be accessible for non-science folk. Here's the thing--we're not talking about Neil Armstrong here. This is a relatively minor mission in the history of NASA that almost everyone had probably forgotten about by the time the book was published. The only people who would read it are space nerds who are already invested and aren't going to scare off easily. So dumbing things down just comes off as condescending.
And there's a lot that could use more explanation that gets skipped. For example, a lot of fuss is made over possible liquid water that turns out to be perchlorate. Is it liquid? Is it frost? Tempers are lost, NASA gets involved and hijacks the mission parameters, a giant conspiracy theory gets started. The author never bothers to explain what the ramifications are. We know there's ice--Mars has ice caps. Visible ones. So why is NASA so invested in finding ice? If a theory is right and the matter on the lander legs is splashed water and not frost from the air, what does that mean? I have only the shadiest notions, which are entirely from previous knowledge. He never tells us himself. But I do know far too much about the author's own insecurities about possibly getting kicked out.
Documenting the mission in a human way was a fantastic idea. I just kind of wish that this book had done so in a more scientifically compelling way. It feels like a wasted opportunity.
Author: Andrew Kessler
Genre: Pop science
Thingummies: 2.5
Synopsis: A writer is imbedded with the team controlling the 2008 Mars lander.
Thoughts: This was a great idea that kind of feels like it was wasted.
The topic is fascinating--a writer tags along with the team running the 2008 Phoenix mission to Mars, attending the science sessions, watching the engineers, getting horrible time lag along with everyone else. It's a chance to get inside a world that's usually closed-door, and it's insight into what's probably going on right now with the Curiosity lander team. The scientists and engineers are fascinating, dedicated people trying to do cutting edge science on a budget under some incredibly difficult conditions.
My problem is that the writer's tone is so twee I wanted to strangle the guy. He's smart--he's got a degree in math from Berkeley. But he writes in the persona of a doofus, in what's obviously an attempt to be accessible for non-science folk. Here's the thing--we're not talking about Neil Armstrong here. This is a relatively minor mission in the history of NASA that almost everyone had probably forgotten about by the time the book was published. The only people who would read it are space nerds who are already invested and aren't going to scare off easily. So dumbing things down just comes off as condescending.
And there's a lot that could use more explanation that gets skipped. For example, a lot of fuss is made over possible liquid water that turns out to be perchlorate. Is it liquid? Is it frost? Tempers are lost, NASA gets involved and hijacks the mission parameters, a giant conspiracy theory gets started. The author never bothers to explain what the ramifications are. We know there's ice--Mars has ice caps. Visible ones. So why is NASA so invested in finding ice? If a theory is right and the matter on the lander legs is splashed water and not frost from the air, what does that mean? I have only the shadiest notions, which are entirely from previous knowledge. He never tells us himself. But I do know far too much about the author's own insecurities about possibly getting kicked out.
Documenting the mission in a human way was a fantastic idea. I just kind of wish that this book had done so in a more scientifically compelling way. It feels like a wasted opportunity.
