Recounts the history of observations of Mars and the rise and fall of belief in the existence of life on the planet, reports on the discoveries of the first spacecraft to study it, and provides advice for viewing Mars from the earth

Exploring Planet Mars looks at the scientific facts about Earth's nearest neighbor and delves into future exploration of the planet-possibly even colonization! Discoveries from the recent probes sent to the planet will be explored and whethere they help confirm signs of life on Mars or not.

In this engaging, eloquent account of our love affair with the Red Planet, Sheehan and O'Meara review the history of human fascination with our neighbor in the solar system and look at the prospects for manned space flight to Mars in this new century.

Did you know that there is a volcanic peak on Mars that is three times higher than Mount Everest? Seymour Simon takes young readers on a voyage to Planet Mars.Newly Updated (2012).

This volume "explores the origins of our Martian obsession in the late nineteenth century" and examines "the way turn-of-the-century Americans and Europeans thought about space, knowledge, and power." The author paints a picture of how "scientists and the public saw [Mars] around the beginning of the 20th century, when canals on the Red Planet seemed a very real possibility." It is a story of mountain observatories, of fieldwork conducted at a distance, and of how Mars's geographers sought social and scientific legitimacy, exploring how astronomy and geography intersected in the debates over the existence of life on Mars.

Humanity has long been fascinated by the planet Mars. Was its climate ever conducive to life? What is the atmosphere like today and why did it change so dramatically over time? Eleven spacecraft have successfully flown to Mars since the Viking mission of the 1970s and early 1980s. These orbiters, landers and rovers have generated vast amounts of data that now span a Martian decade (roughly eighteen years). This new volume brings together the many new ideas about the atmosphere and climate system that have emerged, including the complex interplay of the volatile and dust cycles, the atmosphere-surface interactions that connect them over time, and the diversity of the planet's environment and its complex history. Including tutorials and explanations of complicated ideas, students, researchers and non-specialists alike are able to use this resource to gain a thorough and up-to-date understanding of this most Earth-like of planetary neighbours.

The next frontier in space exploration is Mars, the red planet--and human habitation of Mars isn't much farther off. Now the National Geographic Channel goes years fast-forward with "Mars," a six-part series documenting and dramatizing the next 25 years as humans land on and learn to live on Mars. This companion book to the series explores the science behind the mission and the challenges awaiting those brave individuals. Filled with vivid photographs taken on Earth, in space, and on Mars; arresting maps; and commentary from the world's top planetary scientists, this fascinating book will take you millions of miles away--and decades into the future--to our next home in the solar system.