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Red Rover: Inside the Story of Robotic Space Exploration, from Genesis to the Mars Rover Curiosity
In its eerie likeness to Earth, Mars has long captured our imaginations—both as a destination for humankind and as a possible home to extraterrestrial life. It is our twenty-first century New World; its explorers robots, shipped 350 million miles from Earth to uncover the distant planet’s secrets.
Its most recent scout is Curiosity—a one-ton, Jeep-sized nuclear-powered space laboratory—which is now roving the Martian surface to determine whether the red planet has ever been physically capable of supporting life. In Red Rover , geochemist Roger Wiens, the principal investigator for the ChemCam laser instrument on the rover and veteran of numerous robotic NASA missions, tells the unlikely story of his involvement in sending sophisticated hardware into space, culminating in the Curiosity rover's amazing journey to Mars.
In so doing, Wiens paints the portrait of one of the most exciting scientific stories of our the new era of robotic space exploration. Starting with NASA’s introduction of the Discovery Program in 1992, scrappier, more nimble missions became the order of the day, as manned missions were confined to Earth orbit, and behemoth projects went extinct. This strategic shift presented huge scientific opportunities, but tight budgets meant that success depended more than ever on creative engineering and human ingenuity. Beginning with the Genesis mission that launched his career, Wiens describes the competitive, DIY spirit of these robotic enterprises, from conception to construction, from launch to heart-stopping crashes and smooth landings.
An inspiring account of the real-life challenges of space exploration, Red Rover vividly narrates what goes into answering the is there life elsewhere in the universe?
Its most recent scout is Curiosity—a one-ton, Jeep-sized nuclear-powered space laboratory—which is now roving the Martian surface to determine whether the red planet has ever been physically capable of supporting life. In Red Rover , geochemist Roger Wiens, the principal investigator for the ChemCam laser instrument on the rover and veteran of numerous robotic NASA missions, tells the unlikely story of his involvement in sending sophisticated hardware into space, culminating in the Curiosity rover's amazing journey to Mars.
In so doing, Wiens paints the portrait of one of the most exciting scientific stories of our the new era of robotic space exploration. Starting with NASA’s introduction of the Discovery Program in 1992, scrappier, more nimble missions became the order of the day, as manned missions were confined to Earth orbit, and behemoth projects went extinct. This strategic shift presented huge scientific opportunities, but tight budgets meant that success depended more than ever on creative engineering and human ingenuity. Beginning with the Genesis mission that launched his career, Wiens describes the competitive, DIY spirit of these robotic enterprises, from conception to construction, from launch to heart-stopping crashes and smooth landings.
An inspiring account of the real-life challenges of space exploration, Red Rover vividly narrates what goes into answering the is there life elsewhere in the universe?
256 pages, Hardcover
First published March 12, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
June 19, 2014
The title is a bit misleading. This is almost entirely about Roger Weins experiences as a scientist getting the green light and funding for different programs that he was affiliated with and some that he was in charge of. His stories are, at times, very interesting, but they are also a very one-sided look at the projects he was involved in. This is not a history of robotic space exploration. This is about one man's involvement with these projects. Some of his stories are quite touching, and some of them have more minutiae than seems necessary. I didn't really need to know that his flight was delayed and he missed a connecting flight, or that he and his wife had to postpone their anniversary. That is the sort of thing that happens to everyone.
Perhaps I went into this book expecting it to be something it was not. I thought it would be "the Story of Robotic Space Exploration" which it really isn't. I also felt like he was talking at a party of former colleagues reminiscing about their projects with acronyms sprinkled liberally in the conversation. At times I was frustrated at having to recall what an acronym stood for. For a slim book, it seems that it wouldn't have hurt anything to have added a little bit more about each of the project's history, and to have used the exact name more frequently for clarity. More of a timeline would have been nice too. But for those very, very interested in the current programs going on, and Mars in particular, it should be very enjoyable, and offers a very human side to the effort of getting anything off the ground.
Perhaps I went into this book expecting it to be something it was not. I thought it would be "the Story of Robotic Space Exploration" which it really isn't. I also felt like he was talking at a party of former colleagues reminiscing about their projects with acronyms sprinkled liberally in the conversation. At times I was frustrated at having to recall what an acronym stood for. For a slim book, it seems that it wouldn't have hurt anything to have added a little bit more about each of the project's history, and to have used the exact name more frequently for clarity. More of a timeline would have been nice too. But for those very, very interested in the current programs going on, and Mars in particular, it should be very enjoyable, and offers a very human side to the effort of getting anything off the ground.
August 18, 2018
When I used to read online about all these spacecrafts and rovers going into space (Spirit, Opportunity, Juno, Curiosity..), I never realized that it took numerous years, enormous hard work, and thousands of committed scientists and engineers to bring their dreams to reality. This book is told from the perspective of one of NASA Mars Rover Curiosity's instrument leaders, Roger Wiens, who beautifully narrated the the behind-the-scenes of being a part of multiple space exploration journeys, from forming the team and writing the proposals to launching the vehicles and landing on the red planet in the case of Curiosity. Through reading this book, you get to see that these journeys were not as smooth as the public might think, they often involved many challenges, failures, delays, miscommunications, risks, and sacrifice. However, despite all the odds, these robots still manage to be successful, proving the lengths that the teams are willing to take to realize their space missions and continue the human exploration.
A highly enjoyable and interesting read, recommended for all science and engineering enthusiasts.
A highly enjoyable and interesting read, recommended for all science and engineering enthusiasts.
August 5, 2021
Summary: An insider account of over two decades of space exploration culminating in the Mars Rover Curiosity mission.
Perhaps you have seen the pictures of the Mars landscape taken by the Mars Rovers or even the helicopter flown off of the Mars Rover Perseverance, which landed on Mars February 18, 2021. One of the Project Leaders of both Perseverance and the previous Rover, Curiosity, is research scientist Roger Wiens. Wiens’ work is based at the Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico, having previously worked at Cal Tech and the University of California.
Red Rover is an account of over two decades of Wiens’ involvement in space research using robotic devices. Most of the book is focused on two missions: Genesis, which collected particles from solar winds from the Sun and then returned to Earth, revealing new insights into the composition of the Sun, and Curiosity, the Mars Rover mission which landed nine years ago on August 5, 2012 at 10:32 pm Pacific Time (1:32 am ET, August 6, 2012).
The book opens with Wiens’ boyhood fascination with rocketry, space exploration, and astronomy, including the building of a telescope to observe Mars as it passed within 35 million miles of earth. Mars came up again in his graduate research, as he had a chance to study meteorites from Mars, analyzing gases trapped in the rock. After graduation, he put Mars in the rearview mirror, joining a team competing to be part of one of NASA’s new “Discovery” missions–nimble missions costing less than $150 million. His team worked on developing a proposal to collect solar wind to analyze aspects of the Sun and then return the collectors to earth. He describes the excitement of getting through early rounds only to be disappointed to learn they were not selected. He helped submit a new application for just before starting a new position at Los Alamos. This time they were selected.
Wiens takes us through all the challenges of building the collector, testing materials to see if they could endure the rigors of space, getting parts that didn’t work as deadlines approached. Then the launch, problems with overheating just short of the limits, and the return to earth. He recounts waiting in a Utah hangar only to hear the disastrous news that the chutes failed to deploy and it had plummeted like a rock into the Utah desert. Although the sample plates were broken, they were able to recover data that showed a dramatic difference in nitrogen isotopes between the Sun and the Earth due to photochemical shielding.
After this work, he began research on using lasers to analyze surfaces of airless objects, like on the Moon–or Mars. The remaining two-thirds of the book describes the development of what became ChemCam and the competition to get a laser sample analyzer onto the Rover Curiosity. He describes in detail the ins and outs of program reviews, cost-cutting directives, getting cut and then restored, collaboration with the French, the unique challenges of building instruments that will work after launch and landing and the conditions of Mars, and then working with the team of all Project Leads who had projects on the Rover and making it all work together.
Wiens gives an account of the odds of a project actually getting to the point of being able to collect data on Mars and all the barriers along the way from program cuts to equipment failures or catastrophic crashes (for example, the Rover was lowered to the surface by a hovering sky crane) to apparatus failure on the planet. What is so amazing is that nine years later, it continues to work, joined by the new, enhanced Perseverance. I’m struck, compared to our expenditures in so many other areas, how little this actually cost, and the amazing opportunities to push the boundaries of our knowledge of the cosmos we call home. I remember how our previous space explorations led to so many useful innovations, and wonder what fruit these explorations will bear.
This narrative gave me a sense of the rigorous and patient work over decades involved in moving from concept to data collection on the planet, and the unique kind of courage of researchers who invest all those years hoping to make ground-breaking findings, but also risking utter failure. Wiens offers an account of both competition and collaboration that results in the technological excellence required to achieve these results. Most of us have no idea what the life of a research scientist is like. He takes us through a two decade journey that offers an inside glimpse of that life and the passion for discovery that motivates it.
We see the amazing images from these Rovers of the surface of a planet that is only a bright red dot in the skies to most of us. Wiens offers an account that captures both the challenges to surmount and the incredible excitement and satisfaction that researchers experience when a project succeeds that returns pictures and a wealth of new data about the composition of that red planet. So much remains to be discovered. Was Mars ever habitable? Did any form of life arise on Mars? Could the planet be coaxed into habitability once again? These missions will give us crucial data toward answering these questions about our nearest neighbor.
Perhaps you have seen the pictures of the Mars landscape taken by the Mars Rovers or even the helicopter flown off of the Mars Rover Perseverance, which landed on Mars February 18, 2021. One of the Project Leaders of both Perseverance and the previous Rover, Curiosity, is research scientist Roger Wiens. Wiens’ work is based at the Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico, having previously worked at Cal Tech and the University of California.
Red Rover is an account of over two decades of Wiens’ involvement in space research using robotic devices. Most of the book is focused on two missions: Genesis, which collected particles from solar winds from the Sun and then returned to Earth, revealing new insights into the composition of the Sun, and Curiosity, the Mars Rover mission which landed nine years ago on August 5, 2012 at 10:32 pm Pacific Time (1:32 am ET, August 6, 2012).
The book opens with Wiens’ boyhood fascination with rocketry, space exploration, and astronomy, including the building of a telescope to observe Mars as it passed within 35 million miles of earth. Mars came up again in his graduate research, as he had a chance to study meteorites from Mars, analyzing gases trapped in the rock. After graduation, he put Mars in the rearview mirror, joining a team competing to be part of one of NASA’s new “Discovery” missions–nimble missions costing less than $150 million. His team worked on developing a proposal to collect solar wind to analyze aspects of the Sun and then return the collectors to earth. He describes the excitement of getting through early rounds only to be disappointed to learn they were not selected. He helped submit a new application for just before starting a new position at Los Alamos. This time they were selected.
Wiens takes us through all the challenges of building the collector, testing materials to see if they could endure the rigors of space, getting parts that didn’t work as deadlines approached. Then the launch, problems with overheating just short of the limits, and the return to earth. He recounts waiting in a Utah hangar only to hear the disastrous news that the chutes failed to deploy and it had plummeted like a rock into the Utah desert. Although the sample plates were broken, they were able to recover data that showed a dramatic difference in nitrogen isotopes between the Sun and the Earth due to photochemical shielding.
After this work, he began research on using lasers to analyze surfaces of airless objects, like on the Moon–or Mars. The remaining two-thirds of the book describes the development of what became ChemCam and the competition to get a laser sample analyzer onto the Rover Curiosity. He describes in detail the ins and outs of program reviews, cost-cutting directives, getting cut and then restored, collaboration with the French, the unique challenges of building instruments that will work after launch and landing and the conditions of Mars, and then working with the team of all Project Leads who had projects on the Rover and making it all work together.
Wiens gives an account of the odds of a project actually getting to the point of being able to collect data on Mars and all the barriers along the way from program cuts to equipment failures or catastrophic crashes (for example, the Rover was lowered to the surface by a hovering sky crane) to apparatus failure on the planet. What is so amazing is that nine years later, it continues to work, joined by the new, enhanced Perseverance. I’m struck, compared to our expenditures in so many other areas, how little this actually cost, and the amazing opportunities to push the boundaries of our knowledge of the cosmos we call home. I remember how our previous space explorations led to so many useful innovations, and wonder what fruit these explorations will bear.
This narrative gave me a sense of the rigorous and patient work over decades involved in moving from concept to data collection on the planet, and the unique kind of courage of researchers who invest all those years hoping to make ground-breaking findings, but also risking utter failure. Wiens offers an account of both competition and collaboration that results in the technological excellence required to achieve these results. Most of us have no idea what the life of a research scientist is like. He takes us through a two decade journey that offers an inside glimpse of that life and the passion for discovery that motivates it.
We see the amazing images from these Rovers of the surface of a planet that is only a bright red dot in the skies to most of us. Wiens offers an account that captures both the challenges to surmount and the incredible excitement and satisfaction that researchers experience when a project succeeds that returns pictures and a wealth of new data about the composition of that red planet. So much remains to be discovered. Was Mars ever habitable? Did any form of life arise on Mars? Could the planet be coaxed into habitability once again? These missions will give us crucial data toward answering these questions about our nearest neighbor.
March 18, 2015
As other reviewers have pointed out, this is not REALLY a book about exploring Mars but about the experience of one scientist in the development of a single scientific instrument that is now aboard the Curiosity rover (MSL). As a well-read "space nut", with no formal scientific background, I found the story to be a very interesting behind the scenes look at the process of developing the hardware for these missions. Sure, the descriptions of the travel related to countless meetings and reviews was a little tiresome but I think it helped shed some light on the level of commitment these scientists have to their work. They go above and beyond to turn their ideas into reality.
Of course, towards the end of the book there is some discussion of the MSL's landing and early findings but this probably isn't news to the informed reader now that the mission is well into its third year now.
I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in scientific space exploration. The author does a great job of explaining the science in layman's terms while keeping things interesting for the more technically versed.
Of course, towards the end of the book there is some discussion of the MSL's landing and early findings but this probably isn't news to the informed reader now that the mission is well into its third year now.
I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in scientific space exploration. The author does a great job of explaining the science in layman's terms while keeping things interesting for the more technically versed.
April 26, 2013
The book is about one of the test instruments aboard the Mars Rover Curiosity, and the team that built and developed it. It's an interesting story, as I could relate to the scientists and engineers that built and launched model rockets or used telescopes when they were young. And how that all led to a career in the space science community. The book describes the work, research and pitfalls the team faced through the years it took to bring their test instrument to a device that could be mounted on a robotic rover sent to Mars. You don't need to be a scientist or an engineer to read this, although it does make it more interesting. The book is written in an informal style that makes it seem like it's an old friend telling the story. You get to see how NASA interacts with institutions like CalTech, the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), foreign space agencies and a host of manufacturers. It's really fun to see behind the scenes of an engineering triumph like the Curiosity Rover. I'd recommend the book to anyone who thinks about travelling to other planets.
July 21, 2013
Wiens has written a very compelling memoir based upon his history with robotic space exploration. Prior to reading this, my main idea of NASA centered around the shuttle program; I remember being very sad when the last shuttle was launched, but, having read this book, my imagination can again run rampant with thoughts of the space exploration that is continuing through different, but vitally important, methods. The trials and tribulations encountered during the several missions he worked on are typical of any design-and-build project. It was both gratifying and humbling to see that things like budgeting, production delays, material sourcing, bureaucracy, public relations, and so on (i.e. things encountered during my engineering program's capstone design course) are things that a group of scientists from Los Alamos National Labs had to deal with, too...albeit on a much grander scale.
February 11, 2015
This book reads more like an autobiography of Roger Wiens than a book about Curiosity, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Following Wiens narrative through the story and the work that went into building Curiosity presented a new side of the story that we didn't hear a lot about but also presented lots of scientific details in a way that wasn't overwhelming or confusing. There are a lot of things that feel glossed over while other things seem to inhabit lots of pages, but overall I found it a good read. It's a very high level approach to the creation of Curiosity's ChemCam in a way that makes the acronyms and emotion of it all accessible and enjoyable.
July 8, 2013
The highs and lows, heartbreaks and joys, of a career in space exploration. Starting as a boy who launched model rockets with his brother on their western Minnesota farm, Mr. Wiens tells a captivating adventure story of space exploration culminating in his leading a team overseeing one of the payload instruments on the ongoing successful Curiosity Rover Mission to Mars.
March 28, 2020
The story of the ChemCam instrument on the Mars Curiosity rover. Wiens details the roller coaster of funding issues (for example, overcoming cancellation), some of the engineering problems, and almost none of the science. I was never really sure what Wiens himself was doing—maybe managing budgets and going to meetings? Still, there are enough anecdotes and details of what it takes to develop and integrate a new sensor to make the book worthwhile.
> The distance between the mast and body sections of our instrument was only about 4 feet. In our proposal, the plan was to use a cable about 6 feet long to cover this distance with length to spare … In addition, the optical fiber cable, along with all of the other cables to the mast, had to be routed past several moving joints, including one to rotate the mast from side to side (azimuth) and one to point the mast up or down (elevation). Our idea for getting past these joints was simply to hang the cables out far enough from the joints so they wouldn't get tangled. We could provide enough slack so the mast could move any way it needed to. But we had not thought this through well enough. Everything, even short lengths of cable, had to be securely fastened down during launch. … Unfortunately, these windings would add a lot of length to the cable, especially since there were to be two such units—one around each joint. If we used this method, our fiber cable would end up being more than 25 feet long, many times the original estimate! … In the meantime, a conflict was brewing over the construction of the cable. The rover design team wanted it to have several connectors. That way, they could disconnect it during rover assembly and route it more easily through the rover body.
> Our cleanroom, and even our larger outer room, just wouldn't do. Then we realized that if we had a mirror, we could effectively double the distance. ChemCam could take a "self-portrait" looking at itself in a mirror. Unfortunately, we didn't have a mirror. I hunted around the lab for a while until Sylvestre suggested that we try the rest rooms. It was a silly idea, but a bathroom mirror might do the trick. The men's room had a small one on the wall. We got a screwdriver and started to loosen it, but it didn't come. Sylvestre ducked into the ladies' room without even knocking. French people tend to be a little less modest in that regard.
> It seemed that NASA was afraid to go after the instruments being built at two different NASA centers. That pair of instruments was ten times ChemCam's cost, and they had ten times the cost overruns. But because ChemCam was not at a NASA center, we had been nailed. Meanwhile, Dr. Stern, who by now had publicly announced the decision, denounced our instrument and our institution to the press.
> The distance between the mast and body sections of our instrument was only about 4 feet. In our proposal, the plan was to use a cable about 6 feet long to cover this distance with length to spare … In addition, the optical fiber cable, along with all of the other cables to the mast, had to be routed past several moving joints, including one to rotate the mast from side to side (azimuth) and one to point the mast up or down (elevation). Our idea for getting past these joints was simply to hang the cables out far enough from the joints so they wouldn't get tangled. We could provide enough slack so the mast could move any way it needed to. But we had not thought this through well enough. Everything, even short lengths of cable, had to be securely fastened down during launch. … Unfortunately, these windings would add a lot of length to the cable, especially since there were to be two such units—one around each joint. If we used this method, our fiber cable would end up being more than 25 feet long, many times the original estimate! … In the meantime, a conflict was brewing over the construction of the cable. The rover design team wanted it to have several connectors. That way, they could disconnect it during rover assembly and route it more easily through the rover body.
> Our cleanroom, and even our larger outer room, just wouldn't do. Then we realized that if we had a mirror, we could effectively double the distance. ChemCam could take a "self-portrait" looking at itself in a mirror. Unfortunately, we didn't have a mirror. I hunted around the lab for a while until Sylvestre suggested that we try the rest rooms. It was a silly idea, but a bathroom mirror might do the trick. The men's room had a small one on the wall. We got a screwdriver and started to loosen it, but it didn't come. Sylvestre ducked into the ladies' room without even knocking. French people tend to be a little less modest in that regard.
> It seemed that NASA was afraid to go after the instruments being built at two different NASA centers. That pair of instruments was ten times ChemCam's cost, and they had ten times the cost overruns. But because ChemCam was not at a NASA center, we had been nailed. Meanwhile, Dr. Stern, who by now had publicly announced the decision, denounced our instrument and our institution to the press.
September 26, 2021
Red Rover is a charming book recounting Dr. Wiens’ involvement in various robotic space programs including the Genesis probe that collected samples from the sun and the ChemCam component on the Mars Curiosity rover. The author’s enthusiasm and passion for space exploration bleed through each page of the book as he recounts his own journey from a boy in rural Minnesota launching model rockets with his brother to one of the leaders in a fantastically successful and impressive mission to Mars.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part, Genesis, shares the author’s personal past and his trajectory that landed him on the Genesis project. It was fascinating to learn many of the steps involved for a project to be selected for a space mission and the work required to make it happen. The Genesis spacecraft traveled into space to the Lagrange point 1 to gather samples from solar wind and then returned to earth with the samples. The probe successfully collected the solar particles and though the return landing was not ideal, much was learned from the samples and the mission was fruitful.
In part 2, Path to Mars, Dr. Wiens shares the agonizing process of proposal wars to obtain a spot on a mission to Mars. His ChemCam instrument was rejected, approved, canceled, reinstated, and everything in between. Developing and testing the devices was arduous and thorough but also exciting. The dedication and efforts of the author and his team were apparent in these chapters.
Part 3, Curiosity, focuses on the assembly of the instruments and components onto the Curiosity rover as well as the testing, delays, launch, landing, data capture, and triumph of this extraordinary space vehicle. Considered one of the most successful and ambitious projects, the lab, analysis, and sampling capability of the Curiosity rover have greatly increased our knowledge and understanding of Mars as it is today and has given us invaluable clues about its past.
Throughout the book, Dr. Wiens weaves in personal stories of himself, his family, and his coworkers. We learn of their excitements, disappointments, relief, teamwork, struggles, and accomplishments. I highly recommend this inspiring true account of Dr. Wiens pursuing his dreams and passing them on to us that we may dream too.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part, Genesis, shares the author’s personal past and his trajectory that landed him on the Genesis project. It was fascinating to learn many of the steps involved for a project to be selected for a space mission and the work required to make it happen. The Genesis spacecraft traveled into space to the Lagrange point 1 to gather samples from solar wind and then returned to earth with the samples. The probe successfully collected the solar particles and though the return landing was not ideal, much was learned from the samples and the mission was fruitful.
In part 2, Path to Mars, Dr. Wiens shares the agonizing process of proposal wars to obtain a spot on a mission to Mars. His ChemCam instrument was rejected, approved, canceled, reinstated, and everything in between. Developing and testing the devices was arduous and thorough but also exciting. The dedication and efforts of the author and his team were apparent in these chapters.
Part 3, Curiosity, focuses on the assembly of the instruments and components onto the Curiosity rover as well as the testing, delays, launch, landing, data capture, and triumph of this extraordinary space vehicle. Considered one of the most successful and ambitious projects, the lab, analysis, and sampling capability of the Curiosity rover have greatly increased our knowledge and understanding of Mars as it is today and has given us invaluable clues about its past.
Throughout the book, Dr. Wiens weaves in personal stories of himself, his family, and his coworkers. We learn of their excitements, disappointments, relief, teamwork, struggles, and accomplishments. I highly recommend this inspiring true account of Dr. Wiens pursuing his dreams and passing them on to us that we may dream too.
November 26, 2017
"Go, go, go"! Roger Wiens presents a wonderful account of the excitement and challenges involved in the exploration of space. This book is a fantastic insight into the behind-the-scenes moments that eventually made Genesis and Curiosity, as well as other robotic missions. In addition, this account puts into perspective the effort of the individuals dedicated to pushing our notion of what is possible.
February 27, 2020
Red Rover is more of a Weins autobiography than a book on Mars exploration, and is narrow in its focus of robotic exploration. The book is full of hundreds of acronyms that are hard to remember and information that isn’t particularly necessary to the story. The author is a very accomplished scientist, but perhaps he should leave the writing of books to authors and instead stick to zapping rocks with lasers.
August 10, 2022
3.5 stars. This isn't a broad picture of space exploration; it's a specific account of one scientists career. If that's what you're looking for, this book is great, but if you're looking for a more general biography of the Curiosity Rover (my all-time favourite rover) you can do much better.
December 29, 2023
Not only is the title misleading as others have noted, but there are two huge errors in the first 10 pages. The astronauts of Apollo 8 did not orbit the moon in the LM (the LM was not yet ready) and astronauts last walked on the moon in 1972, not 1973.
May 13, 2017
Moderately interesting story. Quick read.
May 14, 2018
This is a great go to for information on the different Rovers. There is a lot of information to read through. For someone who is interested in more on this topic, this a great resource.
June 8, 2019
Interesting look into the inside of actually designing a space robot.
August 9, 2019
Fascinating description of the development and implementation of the ChemCam instrument used on Curiousity. Really enjoyed reading about the process.
February 7, 2014
This book tells about the career of the space scientist who headed the joint American-French team working on ChemCam, an instrument of the Curiosity Mars rover. ChemCam points a laser at a target rock, vaporizes a minute amount of material, and analyzes its chemical composition by looking at the spectrum of the resulting plasma. The laser can also blast away the dust on a rock before actually analyzing the rock. Mars is a cold planet, but Curiosity is heated by a radioisotope, so the CCDs of the spectrometer actually needed a thermoelectric cooler. The first batch of CCDs had electrical leads made out of tin, which can grow whiskers, causing short circuits; they found a company that would robotically dip them all in hot lead. Also, the first CCDs could not withstand Martian levels of radiation; they found more radiation-resilient CCDs, though they were more expensive and had the wrong shape. The fiber optic cable connecting the telescope to the spectrometer could not be too long, for too much light would be lost. The engineers working on the rover wanted to splice pieces of the cable with optical connectors, so only between a third and a tenth of light would get to the spectrometer; the author had to prove to them that he needed every photon he could get.
In 2012, the rover safely landed on Mars in a crater where there were signs of past water, and has been driving on the planet and analyzing the chemical composition of soils and rocks ever since. The author's career since 1997 has been vindicated.
In 2012, the rover safely landed on Mars in a crater where there were signs of past water, and has been driving on the planet and analyzing the chemical composition of soils and rocks ever since. The author's career since 1997 has been vindicated.
April 6, 2024
The book Red Rover by Roger Wiens is about the two space missions Genisis and the Curiosity rover. The most interesting part was all the uncertainty. Roger Wiens did a great job of foreshadowing, such as writing, "In hindsight, we should have kept it simple" (Wiens 156). The author also did a great job of putting you on the journey with the main character by making you want to clebrate if something went well. A good example was when he wrote, "Go, go, go!" (Wiens 188). The mood of the text changed based on what was happening, but there was a lot of suspense. The text, "The Genisis mission looked like it would be a success after all - at least we had no reason to suspect otherwise" (Wiens 49). will leave you wondering what's going to happen. Red Rover definatley isn't for everybody. Most could agree that it is best for those 13 and up, those interested in space, or people with a good attention span. There are a lot of pages that are just describing parts of the rover and how they work, and some may find that boring.
December 1, 2013
A well written account of the author's career as a geochemist and his work for NASA. I believe that this book is readable introduction into scientific process, engineering design process that is understandable to teens who have a interest in science and engineering.
What is cool about the book is the candor that the author has on how NASA works and how teams of scientists and engineers work to reach their goal for a particular project.
The reader understands that the launch of a science project is not the end of the work but really just the beginning of the work for scientists. He makes clear that there are associated long term costs to keep the scientific mission alive so that the data incoming can still be analyzed years after the public has forgotten about the launch.
What is cool about the book is the candor that the author has on how NASA works and how teams of scientists and engineers work to reach their goal for a particular project.
The reader understands that the launch of a science project is not the end of the work but really just the beginning of the work for scientists. He makes clear that there are associated long term costs to keep the scientific mission alive so that the data incoming can still be analyzed years after the public has forgotten about the launch.
July 16, 2013
This book shares the perspective of a scientist who participated in two of the most ambitious robotic space missions: the Genesis probe to collect samples of the solar wind (2001-2004) and the Curiosity probe to explore Gale Crater on Mars (2011-present). Over the past year, a rover the size of an SUV has fired laser beams onto Martian rocks. These laser flashes have then produced spectral lines for scientists such as Dr. Wiens to analyze back on Earth, and determine the chemical composition of the rocks in question.
I am simply amazed that in the course of fifteen years, we have gone from a tiny 23-pound rover called Sojourner to a one-ton rover called Curiosity.
I am simply amazed that in the course of fifteen years, we have gone from a tiny 23-pound rover called Sojourner to a one-ton rover called Curiosity.
December 29, 2013
I knew before starting that this book was going to be dry. (Look at the title!) It's about the building of one component of the Mars Rover, from an idea to Mars. I enjoyed reading about having to deal with budget cuts -- performing tests with less than ideal building materials, assembling a state-of-the-art instrument as though they were MacGuyver -- and bureaucracy. The teams that put together Curiosity deserve all their kudos and more.
December 5, 2013
I had to take a short break from this book as it was overdue at the library. I have been enjoying it and and now managed to take it out again. I enjoy reading about how humans are exploring the solar system and further afield in the universe. Interseting, well written. Whets the appetite for more reading of similar subject matter.
October 30, 2014
Great story of 15 years of perseverance getting LIBS (laser induced breakdown spectroscopy)onto the surface of Mars. 200,000 spectra and 2 years later, the project continues as the Rover moves towards Mount Sharp.
December 21, 2014
Amazing look at both the human and technical story of working on large NASA space projects. Great to ride along with an engineer's career ups and downs. There are not many other texts as candid as this on the sponsored spaceflight life.
May 15, 2013
Interesting if a bit dry at times. The author does a good job of explaining some pretty complicated stuff in simple terms.
September 30, 2013
The author illustrates several robotic missions that are very interesting. He shows excellent problem solving examples and hurdles that he overcame in order to aide in the production of Curiosity.
April 24, 2014
my favourite book
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