Archive for the ‘Space Book Reviews’ Category
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December 28th, 2021
Discovering Mars – A History of Observation and Exploration of the Red Planet by William Sheehan and Jim Bell; Published by University of Arizona Press (2021); 744 pages; Hardcover: $30.00
This splendid book is the product of historian William Sheehan and astronomer and planetary scientist Jim Bell. As the authors explain in the book’s preface: “We hope you enjoy the stories told here chronicling the characters, technologies, human (and robotic) failures and successes, and the incredible scientific discoveries that have revealed and continue to reveal the true nature of our most Earthlike of celestial neighbors.”
Presented in 22 chapters of well-written and superb research, Discovering Mars covers it all – from the Red Planet being little more than a fuzzy place of mystery through telescopic eyepieces here on Earth to robotic explorers circling Mars and the powerful Perseverance rover and its Ingenuity helicopter drone, now busily at work within Jezero Crater.
There’s a number of appendix pieces chock full of details, including NASA’s historical investment in Mars exploration.
The collective talents of Bell and Sheehan shine throughout the book. The rich history of why Mars continues to tug on humankind’s curious nature and what constitutes multiple pathways to create a future Mars – be it robots or humans, dotting the world with small, expeditionary encampments, or transforming the planet into an Earth II via terraforming – or is it terrorforming?
“Even much of the basic reconnaissance work that robots do so well could be done much more quickly and efficiently by trained professionals in the field, although that is not adequate justification on its own to support the risk of human lives and the expenditure of scare resources,” the authors note.
The march of Mars machinery, starting with the Mariner and Viking missions of the 1960s and 1970s, have yielded tell-tale data that, in a true sense, allows us to “re-discover” Mars over and over again. Who knows when and what evidence is lurking there to show that the Red Planet was indeed once an extraterrestrial address for life – and perhaps that life is alive and well today.
This epic and one-of-a-kind volume is best read with a mind in full-inquisitive mode and why our technologies have provided decade-after-decade of astounding and captivating reveals…and what awaits us.
For more information on this book, go to:
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The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars by Simon Morden; Published by Elliott & Thompson/London (2021) and Pegasus Books/U.S. (2022); 256 pages; Hard Cover: £14.99.
This delightful volume is a must-have for those perplexed by the wonderment of the Red Planet, what research has already revealed and those mysteries still to be exposed.
Morden is trained as a planetary geologist and geophysicist, as well as celebrated science fiction author. He showcases his excellent ability to make clear just how intriguing Mars has been for centuries. The author takes the reader from the planet’s formation 4.5 billion years ago, through its geological history, and serves up a unique perspective on the planet’s present-day state of affairs.
The book is divided into seven parts, clearly detailing the Noachian, Hesperian, and Amazonian periods ending up asking the question, what should we make of Mars…and calling out that we are the Martians! Morden adds that there’s a whole raft of difficult ethical questions to wrestle with in how best to treat Mars.
“We cannot stand aside from the conversation to come — and it will come soon – as to what we do with Mars,” the author writes. His perspective of the future of Mars spreads out over the next 100-200 years.
Given the attention to Mars by multiple nations over the decades, this book provides a “get to know the planet” feel, page by page. Morden supplies a vibrant view of that enigmatic world.
As for the life on Mars question, the author suggests digging down deep. “If we ever do find Martians, that’s most likely where they will be.”
I particularly liked the nicely detailed descriptions of Mars’ ice caps, the planet’s equatorial ice zones, and the Martian weather system – specifically, the planet’s dusty veneer and swirling dust devils.
Taken as a whole, The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars is a primer for those hungry to travel to, explore, and perhaps colonize that distant destination.
For more information on this book, go to:
The Elliott & Thompson website at: https://eandtbooks.com/books/the-red-planet/
The Pegasus Books website at:
http://www.pegasusbooks.com/books/the-red-planet-9781639361755-hardcover
Don’t Blow Yourself Up: The Further True Adventures and Travails of the Rocket Boy of October Sky by Homer Hickam; Published by Post Hill Press/Distributed by Simon & Schuster; 416 pages; October 2021; Hard Cover; $27.00.
This celebrated writer’s memoir Rocket Boys was adapted into the film October Sky. Hickam’s new book is a delightful read and, as he introduces the volume, he writes: “I decided to sit down and write about some of the things that happened in those years after I was a Rocket Boy in West Virginia. This memoir is the result.”
“Don’t blow yourself up” is a direct quote from Elsie Hickam, the author’s mother. The book is divided into 5 parts, all equally enjoyable. Among a range of experiences, the author recounts his life in college, his Vietnam experiences, trained the first Japanese astronauts, taught David Letterman to scuba dive…even helped to fix the Hubble Space Telescope.
For his space adventures, one part is called “NASA Man,” admitting that his learning curve at NASA was steep. The author offers some captivating looks at Marshall Space Flight Center and his automation work on the Space Shuttle/Spacelab program. Hickam poignantly writes about his reaction to the loss of Challenger, a consequence of “launch fever” that created an American disaster.
In the closing pages of the book, Hickam recounts the writing of Rocket Boys and the making of the October Sky movie. A retired NASA engineer, the author serves on the boards of the United States Space & Rocket Center (Space Camp) and the Museum of the Rockies, and was appointed in 2019 as an advisor to the National Space Council.
Again, thanks to his wit and writing talents, you’ll encounter humor, but also personal pain and hardships. As former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino explains in the first pages of the book, “Homer takes us from rocket boy to rocket man to bestselling author. He writes about his experiences with an engineer’s precision and a poet’s emotions, not only sharing the details of the times in which he has lived, but also the deep inner feelings of his life’s successes and disappointments in a most personal and incredibly honest way.”
Massimino adds: “Read this book and be inspired to reach for the stars.”
For more information on this book, go to:
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Dont-Blow-Yourself-Up/Homer-Hickam/9781642938241
Also, go to:
https://homerhickam.com/product/dont-blow-yourself-up/
Homer Hickam hardback books can be purchased and personalized, autographed and mailed to the reader.
Clutter in the cosmos.
Credit: Used with permission: Melrae Pictures/Space Junk 3D
A new report flags the fact that collision risk in low Earth orbit is on the rise. Moreover, addressing this risk is of paramount importance and is becoming increasingly urgent.
The report — Collision Risk from Space Debris – Current Status, Challenges and Response Strategies has been issued by the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne’s (EPFL) International Risk Governance Center.
Orbital debris hit.
Credit: NASA
Tipping point passed?
“Collisions between large derelict objects cannot currently be avoided. Such collisions can result in a large number of smaller fragments, significantly increasing the subsequent collision risk for operational spacecraft,” the report states. “The long-term danger is a cascade of collisions, threatening the safety of future space operations.”
In addition, modeling of the space debris environment has shown that “the tipping point for this cascading effect might already have been reached in some orbital regions.”
A solution to pollution – netting a derelict satellite?
Credit: ESA
Collision risk landscape
The report chapters discuss the space ecosystem and its evolution; the collision risk landscape; the current strategy for managing collision risk; and offer a number of options for reinforcing the current management strategy and introduce novel approaches.
This excellent report draws attention to some of the major challenges ahead.
“Much of the discussion regarding space safety is concerned with coordinating and managing increasing levels of space traffic,” the report explains. “Although increased efforts are required in this area, the risk profile of an operating spacecraft is dominated by lethal non-trackable objects which cannot be dodged.”
For the full report, go to:
https://www.epfl.ch/research/domains/irgc/specific-risk-domains/space-debris/
For another view of the space clutter issue, go to this editorial in Nature —
“The world must cooperate to avoid a catastrophic space collision” — at:
The United States government and commercial spaceflight providers have no plans in place to conduct a timely rescue of a crew from a distressed spacecraft in low Earth orbit, or anywhere else in space.
Without rescue plans in place, today’s space travelers will journey at their own risk.
The present posture, of not planning for in-space rescue and not having responsive in-space rescue capabilities, needs to be addressed before the need for a rescue materializes. The U. S. has the wherewithal to establish space rescue capabilities and to do so with a sense of urgency.
A new report — The In-space Rescue Capability Gap — seeks to raise awareness of the need to revisit space rescue policies and put in place measures to address this issue.
Author of the report, Grant Cates, is a senior project leader for The Aerospace Corporation’s Space Architecture Department.
USS Squalus and Diving Bell by John Groth/
Naval History and Heritage Command
Historical analogs
Issued by the corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy and the organization’s Space Safety Institute, Cates uses historical analogs, such as the ancient maritime explorers that embarked upon epic journeys with multiple ships, effective submarine rescue operations, and the rich history of human spaceflight.
Potential solutions to improve safety during space travel are identified and policy options are discussed in the paper.
The paper offers a series of conclusions:
- The United States has no present capability or policy for conducting in-space rescues. This despite:
- Having studied space escape and rescue systems since 1959.
- Having demonstrated a self-rescue capability during the aborted Apollo 13 mission.
- Having put in place rescue capabilities for the Skylab mission.
- Experiencing the hard-learned revelation of the importance of in-space rescue options after the loss of space shuttle Columbia and her 7-person crew.
Columbia catastrophe
On February 1, 2003, Columbia broke up as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere, killing all onboard, with NASA suspending shuttle mission for more than two years as it looked into causes of the catastrophe.
Credit: NASA
Indeed, the report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board concluded that if NASA had recognized the damage at the beginning of the mission, then a rescue by using the next space shuttle due for launch, Atlantis, would have been feasible.
That rescue would have entailed maneuvering Atlantis next to Columbia and then transferring the crewmembers via individual spacewalks. “This rescue was considered challenging but feasible,” as noted in the Columbia Accident Investigation board report volume 1.
First step
“A space rescue capability is likely to be highly synergistic with the long-sought-after capability of having responsive launch capability,” Cates writes. “Perhaps a good first step to achieve both would be for the U.S. Congress to establish a policy such as: “It should be the policy of the United States to develop and put in place rapid launch-on-need capability to support: timely rescue of astronauts in cis-lunar space; rapid reconstitution of nationally important space assets; and the ability to put in place new space capabilities in response to emerging threats in near real time.”
Credit: dearMoon
Imagine the public outcry, Cates adds, that could arise if an Inspiration4, Axiom, dearMoon or a similar mission were stranded in low Earth orbit or cislunar space by a disabled spacecraft.
Inspiration4 is the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit. The mission will be commanded by Jared Isaacman, the 38-year-old founder and Chief Executive Officer of Shift4 Payments and an accomplished pilot and adventurer.
Axiom’s four-person Ax-1 crew is to fly to the International Space Station.
The dearMoon project is a lunar tourism mission and art project conceived and financed by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.
To read the full report — The In-space Rescue Capability Gap – go to:
https://aerospace.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/Cates_SpaceRescue_20210728.pdf
Apollo Over the Moon in Perspective by Ronald A. Wells (Author), Harrison H. Schmitt (Author), Robert Godwin (Series Editor); CG Publishing/Apogee Books; 230 pages; Soft cover: $29.95
This multi-faceted volume provides exquisite detail and unique looks of the Moon as seen through the Apollo “J” missions – the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 Moon landing sojourns designed for longer stays on Earth’s celestial neighbor, including the first time humans drove a rover across the lunar surface.
As a sequel to his book “Apollo on the Moon in Perspective,” author Ron Wells uses cutting-edge photogrammetry techniques, providing the reader astounding views of some of the most distinctive features of the Moon seen from angles never before possible.
One of the model views from the book looking east across the Hadley Rille area, the landing site of Apollo 15. (Copyright by Apogee Books, 2021; Courtesy of Apogee Books (used with permission).
This book includes a multitude of 3D anaglyphs created painstakingly by the author including features from the lunar far side. 3D anaglyph glasses are provided.
This glossy book also includes a revealing DVD that includes flybys over many of the lunar features derived from 3D models. There are digital terrain model flybys of 40 lunar locations and a brand new unique movie. It is narrated by Apollo 17’s Harrison Schmitt, describing his flight over the Taurus Littrow valley, the site where he would spend three days as the only scientist to walk on the Moon.
This extraordinary volume is dedicated “to the unsung heroes of the Apollo lunar landing missions,” the Command Module Pilots:
Mike Collins, Dick Gordon, Stu Roosa, Al Worden, Ken Mattingly and Ron Evans.
“While their colleagues were exploring the lunar surface, they maintained their lone vigils in orbit, making scientific observations and imaging the Moon in unprecedented detail while waiting for the moonwalkers to return.”
As Schmitt writes in the book’s foreword, underscoring the tenacity of Wells to produce this matchless work, the volume “represents the latest culmination of his never ending search for new knowledge and the means to draw you into that quest with him. Working with him on the last chapter of this book, ‘Colors Across the Moon,’ was both a pleasure and a stimulation of new thoughts about volcanism on the Moon as well as about the evolution of that small planet.”
For more information on this book, go to:
Wonders All Around: The Incredible True Story of Astronaut Bruce McCandless II and the First Untethered Flight in Space by Bruce McCandless III; Greenleaf Book Group Press; 284 pages; Hardcover: $24.95.
We have all seen that iconic image – an astronaut in a snow-white spacesuit, untethered and floating free above Earth. Bruce McCandless II made that milestone-making, Buck Rogers-like space cruise in 1984 during his shuttle mission: STS-41B. As a mission specialist, McCandless controlled his movement above the Earth – and just few meters away from the space shuttle Challenger – during the first-ever spacewalk which didn’t use restrictive tethers and umbilicals.
Credit: NASA
This book is a wonderful read, written by his son, Bruce McCandless III. It is a very human tale, one that underscores the astronaut’s perseverance, setback, defeat and redemption.
The book features 22 chapters, including an excellent set of notes.
Astronaut McCandless joined NASA in 1966. He was the youngest of the new astronauts selected that year. He was chosen to be Houston’s capsule communicator for Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when they first set foot on the Moon. An astronaut for 24 years, he went on to help design, deploy, and later repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
His son writes: “He was an engineer, a true son of science, a distant nephew of Sir Isaac Newton. He knew the formulas required for achieving orbital velocity, could tell you the fuel mixtures you needed, the stages and timing of rocket-booster separations.”
Former NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II, mission specialist on the STS-41B and STS-31 missions, passed away on Dec. 21, 2017, at the age of 80.
Credit: NASA
The author adds his thoughts when viewing that classic image of his father suspended in the cosmos, “the ant and the ocean.”
“But I see something else in the picture as well. I see the man who named me. He’s shut off from me now, mute and unattainable, sealed up in his pressure suit, as much a mystery to me in this vision as he ever was. As much a mystery as any man is to his son, who spends his life reading the clues a father left behind and remembering his words as he tries, a hundred times, to invent his own life. I don’t remember all those words, but I do hear one. It resonates to this day. Onward.”
For more information on this book, go to:
The Impact of Lunar Dust on Human Exploration, Edited by Joel S. Levine; Cambridge Scholars Publishing; 303 Pages; January 2021; Hardcover: £64.99.
As humans prepare to replant their boots on the Moon, a major lesson from NASA’s Project Apollo is that dealing with lunar dust turned out to be a dilemma. For one, Lunar Module lander descent rockets caused large amounts of surface dust to move into the thin lunar atmosphere, causing obscuration of the lunar surface. That made touchdowns difficult and dangerous.
Moreover, once out and about, moonwalkers coped with very fine, tiny particles composed of sharp, glassy material. Indeed, lunar dust stuck to everything it came in contact with; dust eroded their spacesuits, caused overheating on equipment and instrumentation, compromised seals on their spacesuits and on lunar sample collecting boxes, as well as irritated the eyes and lungs of moonwalkers.
This excellent volume summarizes what we know about lunar dust, its structure and chemical composition, its impact on human health, and how to reduce/mitigate its effects on future human exploration. The four dozen contributors to the 14 chapters in the book are planetary scientists, engineers, mission planners, medical researchers and physicians from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as universities and industry from the United States, Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.
Rich in detail, the reader will find a treasure trove of lessons from Apollo and a look ahead to what future expeditions will face. There’s a bounty of data here, be it the history and future perspectives for the evaluation of the toxicity of celestial dust to lunar dust mitigation strategy and testing through simulation and analogs.
Editor Joel S. Levine is a research professor in applied science at the College of William and Mary, USA, and a consultant to NASA’s Engineering and Safety Center at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. This compilation of excellent and fact-filled papers is a must-have for researchers and general readers too.
For more information about this book, go to:
War and Peace in Outer Space Law, Policy, and Ethics, Edited by Cassandra Steer and Matthew Hersch; Oxford University Press; 334 Pages; January 2021; Hardcover: $99.00.
This impressive and highly readable book pulls together essays from a cavalcade of creative thinkers to take on not only space security and military prowess, but also the ethical, legal and illegal issues regarding the weaponization of outer space.
The co-editors are Cassandra Steer, a lecturer at the Australian National University (ANU) College of Law, specializing in space law and space security and Matthew Hersch, an associate professor of the History of Science at Harvard University specializing in the history of aerospace technology.
Hersch and Steer divide this volume into four parts: The Law of War and Peace in Space; The Ethics of Space Security; Current and Future Threats to Space Security; and (last but not least) Toward Stability. This book is part of the Oxford Series in Ethics, National Security, and the Rule of Law.
The essays are written by informed specialists, including independent legal and policy experts, a senior scientist, researchers and writers, professors – and a philosopher for good measure! All in all, this is a well-crafted book on military uses of outer that taps space interdisciplinary expertise, not only from the United States, but Canada and Europe.
“The reader should find plenty of content to stimulate inquiry, gain understanding, challenge personal preconceptions, test the ideas of others, and sharpen their own thinking on the subject matter,” explains now U.S. Space Force General, David Thompson in the book’s foreword. Indeed, the reader will find this statement solidly delivered via the various essays.
As Steer and Hersch note/warn in the introduction, yet another “critical moment” has arrived, due to a “discernible shift” in international rhetoric toward a more offensive approach to defense in space.
“A central theme in all of the chapters is that the best way to avoid capricious use of the space environment in wartime is to create an explicit set of norms in peacetime, recognizing that shared use, rather than dominance, is the preferred outcome for all spacefaring nations,” Hersch and Steer explain.
That said…this book also serves as a moving yardstick of where humankind now finds itself in the evolving use of outer space for military purposes. How we gauge actions of today with the reality of where spacefaring nations will find themselves a decade from now is a troublesome TBD.
For more information on this book, go to:
Also, go to this virtual book launch event staged by the Secure World Foundation, a “War and Peace in Outer Space” roundtable on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 6pm eastern time. Register for this free virtual meeting at:
https://swfound.org/events/2021/roundtable-on-war-and-peace-in-outer-space
“Spaceships are dangerous things. There are no intentions implied to suggest otherwise,” writes Brian Binnie in his engrossing book, The Magic and Menace of SpaceShipOne.
On October 4, 2004, SpaceShipOne was released from its White Knight mothership, and with Binnie at the controls, he made the second suborbital flight in one week’s time to snag the $10 million Ansari X Prize flight purse. That pioneering passage of space and time marked a new era of commercial space flight.
SpaceShipOne, with Brian Binnie at the controls, flew the second suborbital flight in one week’s time in 2004 to capture the $10 million Ansari X Prize flight purse.
Courtesy Brian Binnie/Mike Mills
I recently talked with Binnie about his forty years of what he tags as “wrestling with recalcitrant machinery” – flying vehicles that are doing their best to be lethal, but proving to be useful training.
Go to my new Space.com story at:
“Test pilot Brian Binnie recounts his historic flight on SpaceShipOne and the future of private space travel in new book” via Space.com:
https://www.space.com/spaceshipone-test-pilot-brian-binnie-book-interview
