Race to Mars

(back cover) After decades of exploration, after years of planning, after multiple rocket launches, and a journey of almost a year’s duration… HUMANS LAND ON MARS! It’s December 30, 2030: the hatch of theGagarin Marsascent/descent vehicle opens and six humans take a momentous step into history. InRace to Mars,Dana Berry chronicles their harrowing and exciting journey. The story begins with astronomers and dreamers, leads to the work of engineers and physicists, and ends with the astonishing achievement of the crew members who risk their lives to extend the reach of humankind to another world. (front flap) Is there life on Mars? People have long suspected that there might be. The nineteenth-century Milanese astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli first drew attention to thecanalion the planet’s surface. An American, Percival Lowell, after studying Schiaparelli’s maps, became convinced that there was an alien civilization slowly dying there. His books in turn inspired the classic novel by H.G. Wells and a profusion of movies based on the premise laid out in Wells’The War of the Worlds.Martians have inhabited our collective imagination for more than a hundred years. There are good reasons for our fascination. Of all the planets in our solar system, Mars is most like Earth. It has seasons, as Earth does. Although colder than Earth, the temperatures on Mars are within a range that humans might endure. And latest findings by NASA indicate the presence of water on Mars. The presence of water raises the possibility that life also exists. A journey to Mars is no longer a dream. Dana Berry draws on his wide experience as a science writer — and on research developed for the television docudrama Race to Mars — to describe the work already underway to take humans to the Red Planet. He describes the complex operation that leads to the construction in low Earth orbit of the Terra Nova spacecraft that will carry the six-person crew to Mars. He examines the nature of the risks — from mechanical failure and fire to physical and psychological breakdown — that the crew will have to overcome. And he writes about the experiments that will be conducted when Earth’s first human emissaries set foot on Martian soil. (back flap) Race to Marsfeatures spectacular computer-generated images created especially for the Mars television series — along with latest breathtaking photographs of the planet captured by NASA. Dana Berry,a writer, artist, and pioneering computer animator, is the author of New Cosmos: An Intimate Guide to the Latest Discoveries in Space. His work is regularly featured in books and magazines, including Discover, Nature, Sky and Telescope, and Science News. According to National Geographic, Dana Berry has single-handedly pushed the entire genre of science visualization into high art.” He has also created animation for science documentaries, news broadcasts, NASA video press releases, and even for the stage. Dana Berry’s academic background includes a B.A. in fine art and a Masters degree in film production. His experience with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Beyond Einstein” series of astrophysics missions have uniquely positioned him to be a bridge between the scientific community and the general public. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and young son.Berry, Dana is the author of 'Race to Mars ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780764159053 and ISBN 0764159054.