Award-winning author and former rocket engineer Suzanne Slade explores the diverse magnificence of Mars in this photo-packed extravaganza, perfect or readers eagerly following NASA's Mars Exploration Program! For centuries, people have been intrigued by Mars, and over time, scientists have made exciting discoveries, such as the planet's Earth-like weather and seasons. But curious earthlings want to know more about the Red Planet. Does Mars have deserts? Volcanos? Or signs of life? Could people live there someday? Scientists decided to take a closer look. They built a powerful camera called the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) and loaded it onto a rocket. The rocket blasted off on August 12, 2005, and seven months later, the camera began orbiting Mars. It sent back surprising, revealing photos showing the world what Mars really is. Now, the world's space community and NASA have renewed their exploration efforts, and interest in the Red Planet is in high gear. With elegant, spare prose, Suzanne Slade leads readers through some of the stunning photos taken by the most advanced camera ever sent to another planet. A visual feast for space enthusiasts and STEAM fans. Features remarkable full-color photography throughout.

Examines the theories about life on Mars, providing both historical and current information about our exploration of the Red Planet.

The most comprehensive look at our relationship with Mars—yesterday, today, and tomorrow—through history, archival images, pop culture ephemera, and interviews with NASA scientists, for fans of Andy Weir and For All Mankind. Mars has been a source of fascination and speculation ever since the ancient Egyptians observed its blood-red hue and named it for their god of war and plague. But it wasn't until the 19th century when “canals” were observed on the surface of the Red Planet, suggesting the presence of water, that scientists, novelists, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs became obsessed with the question of whether there’s life on Mars. Since then, Mars has fully invaded pop culture, inspiring its own day of the week (Tuesday), an iconic Looney Tunes character, and many novels and movies, from Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles to The Martian. It’s this cultural familiarity with the fourth planet that continues to inspire advancements in Mars exploration, from NASA’s launch of the Mars rover Perseverance to Elon Musk’s quest to launch a manned mission to Mars through SpaceX by 2024. Perhaps, one day, we’ll be able to answer the questions our ancestors asked when they looked up at the night sky millennia ago.

Nearly five billion years ago, Earth and Mars were born together as planetary siblings orbiting a young, emerging Sun. Yet today, one planet is water rich and life bearing, while the other is seemingly cold, dry, and forbidding. Earth and Mars is a fusion of art and science, a blend of images and essays celebrating the successful creation of our life-sustaining planet and the beauty and mystery of Mars. Through images of terrestrial landscapes and photographs selected from recent NASA and European Space Agency missions to Mars, Earth and Mars reveals the profound beauty resulting from the action of volcanism, wind, and water. The accompanying text provides a context for appreciating the role of these elemental forces in shaping the surfaces of each planet, as well as the divergent evolutionary paths that led to an Earth that is teeming with life, and Mars that is seemingly lifeless. Earth and Mars inspires reflection on the extraordinarily delicate balance of forces that has resulted in our good fortune: to be alive and sentient on a bountiful blue world.

Award-winning journalist Stephen Petranek says humans will live on Mars by 2027. Now he makes the case that living on Mars is not just plausible, but inevitable. It sounds like science fiction, but Stephen Petranek considers it fact: Within twenty years, humans will live on Mars. We’ll need to. In this sweeping, provocative book that mixes business, science, and human reporting, Petranek makes the case that living on Mars is an essential back-up plan for humanity and explains in fascinating detail just how it will happen. The race is on. Private companies, driven by iconoclastic entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Paul Allen, and Sir Richard Branson; Dutch reality show and space mission Mars One; NASA; and the Chinese government are among the many groups competing to plant the first stake on Mars and open the door for human habitation. Why go to Mars? Life on Mars has potential life-saving possibilities for everyone on earth. Depleting water supplies, overwhelming climate change, and a host of other disasters—from terrorist attacks to meteor strikes—all loom large. We must become a space-faring species to survive. We have the technology not only to get humans to Mars, but to convert Mars into another habitable planet. It will likely take 300 years to “terraform” Mars, as the jargon goes, but we can turn it into a veritable second Garden of Eden. And we can live there, in specially designed habitations, within the next twenty years. In this exciting chronicle, Petranek introduces the circus of lively characters all engaged in a dramatic effort to be the first to settle the Red Planet. How We’ll Live on Mars brings firsthand reporting, interviews with key participants, and extensive research to bear on the question of how we can expect to see life on Mars within the next twenty years.

The most outstanding and uniquely curated selection of Mars orbital images ever assembled in one volume. With explanatory captions in twenty-four languages and a gallery of more than 200 images, this distinctive volume brings a timely and clear look at the work of an active NASA mission.

The planet Mars has been a subject of wonder for millennia, as attested by its place in mythology, by later speculation about its canals, and by the scientific and public excitement over the Viking mission. Although the scientific literature about the planet is voluminous, no comprehensive treatment of the results of modern spacecraft exploration has yet been made available. This volume fills that gap by providing a summary of what is presently known about Mars and identifying many puzzles such as polar cap variance, occurrence of dust storms, and the possible location of water. The introductory chapter cites questions, controversies, and milestones in the study of Mars, and also includes an annotated book list, basic data about the planet, and a guide to Martian seasons. A chapter on telescopic observation credits the contributions made by many amateurs that have advanced our knowledge of variations observed on Mars. A chapter on spacecraft exploration, by an American and a Russian author who have participated in all Mars missions, includes a revelation of an additional Soviet attempt. Twenty-nine technical articles cover geophysics; bedrock geology; surface; atmosphere; exosphere and magnetic field; and climate history. Two chapters address the search for life on Mars; three concluding chapters consider the Martian satellites. An indispensable reference for scientists, Mars will also serve as a complete sourcebook for serious amateur astronomers.

Considered one of Ben Bova’s most famous Grand Tour novels: “A gripping, realistic tale of man’s first expedition to the red planet. Don’t miss it” (Terry Brooks, New York Times–bestselling author of The Shannara Chronicles). Jamie Waterman is a young Navaho geologist who is picked for the ground team of the first manned expedition to Mars. He will be joining an international team of astronauts and scientists. But once the crew land on the red planet, they soon discover they must battle not only the alien land on which they have invaded but earthbound bureaucrats as well. When they come face to face with a chasm ten times as deep and large as the Grand Canyon, all twenty-five astronauts must face the most shocking discovery of all . . . “The science fiction author who will have the greatest effect on the world.” —Ray Bradbury, author of Farenheit 451 “A splendid book . . . Of his many books, Mars must be the most important.” —Arthur C. Clarke, author of Islands in the Sky

The search for life on Mars—and the moral issues confronting us as we prepare to send humans there Does life exist on Mars? The question has captivated humans for centuries, but today it has taken on new urgency. As space agencies gear up to send the first manned missions to the Red Planet, we have a responsibility to think deeply about what kinds of life may already dwell there—and whether we have the right to invite ourselves in. Telling the complete story of our ongoing quest to answer one of the most tantalizing questions in astronomy, David Weintraub grapples with the profound moral and ethical questions confronting us as we prepare to introduce an unpredictable new life form—ourselves—into the Martian biosphere. Now with an afterword that discusses the most recent discoveries, Life on Mars explains what we need to know before we go.

A debut collection of darkly humorous, feminist speculative fiction from the Balkans, “sly, uncommon stories” by “a major talent” (Jeff VanderMeer, award-winning author of Hummingbird Salamander). Mars showcases a series of unique and twisted universes, where every character is tasked with making sense of their strange reality. One woman will be freed from purgatory once she writes the perfect book; another abides in a world devoid of physical contact. With wry prose and skewed humor, an emerging feminist writer explores twenty-first century promises of knowledge, freedom, and power. “Bakic’s stories are a dark delight—a treasury of forbidden pleasures, moments of resistance and resilience, and terrifying possibilities.” —Strange Horizons “At turns funny, surreal, and grounded in simple language but flung through twisted realities, the stories in this collection are provocative and utterly readable.” —The Brooklyn Rail “Skillfully disorienting.” —BUST “There’s an immediacy to Bakic’s offbeat worldview, sometimes strange and surreal, sometimes terrifying and upsetting, that pairs perfectly with the madness of the current political moment.” —Locus Magazine “Bosnian writer Bakic’s debut teems with the oddball narratives of George Saunders, the eerie atmosphere of Edgar Allan Poe, and the feminist intellect of Marge Piercyc. . . Told in a straightforward manner that transports speculative fiction into almost realist territory, Bakic’s collection imaginatively and strikingly examines sci-fi tropes from not only the point of view of women, but also from the voice of an effortlessly gifted writer whose future is much brighter than that of those depicted in her stories.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)