Dennis Fischer
2014-08-19 18:24:45 UTC
Review: Why Mars
by Jeff Foust
Why
Mars: NASA and the Politics of Space Exploration
by W. Henry
Lambright
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2014
hardcover, 336 pp.
ISBN
978-1-4214-1279-5
US$49.95
Given how much weâre still learning about Marsâand how far away the prospects
of humans on the surface of the Red Planet remain todayâitâs easy to forget that
NASA has been exploring the planet with spacecraft for nearly half a century.
This November marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Mariner 4, which, in
July of 1965, became the first spacecraft to successfully fly past Mars and
return images. Since then NASA has sent other spacecraft to fly by, orbit, land,
and rove; today two rovers are in operation on the surface of Mars and two
spacecraft are working in orbit, with a third to arrive next month.
Most of the book might have been more accurately titled âHow
Mars,â as itâs a programmatic history of NASAâs robotic Mars exploration
efforts, from the agencyâs origins in the late 1950s through the end of
2012.
NASA has not achieved that half-century of progress in a steady fashion,
though. Since the 1960s there have been ups and downs, successes and failures,
flurries of missions followed by long gaps. While NASAâs Mars Exploration
Program looks stable today, just two years ago there were questions about its
long-term future: at the time Curiosity landed on Mars, there were no missions
on the books beyond the MAVEN orbiter. This sustained exploration, in spite of
considerable instability, is the subject of Why Mars by W. Henry
Lambright, a professor of public affairs at Syracuse University who has
previously written about space policy and history.
Most of the book might have been more accurately titled âHow Mars,â as itâs a
programmatic history of NASAâs robotic Mars exploration efforts, from the
agencyâs origins in the late 1950s through the end of 2012, when NASA announced
plans for a Mars rover mission in 2020. The emphasis here is on âNASA,â
âprogrammatic,â and ârobotic.â Thereâs little about other nationsâ Mars
exploration programs except in regards to potential cooperation, such as NASAâs
aborted cooperation with ESA on ExoMars. While there is some discussion of the
science done by the missions, it is not a primary focus of the book (there are
no images of Mars, or even of Mars spacecraft, in the entire book.) Proposals
for human exploration of Mars also get limited attention in the book, although
none have advanced very far compared to the history of robotic exploration.
Within that narrow focus, though, Lambright tells a thorough story of NASAâs
efforts to send a series of increasingly capable spacecraft to Mars. The flyby
missions of Mariner 4 and its successors led to the first Mars orbiter, Mariner
9, and then the Viking program of orbiters and landers. Viking, while a
scaled-back replacement for the far more ambitious Voyager Mars missions
proposed in the 1960s (not to be confused with the Voyager missions to the outer
solar system), was still criticized by some as too great of a leap in the quest
to find evidence of life on Mars. And, when the Viking results were, at best,
inconclusive about life there, NASAâs Mars program went on hiatus, with no
funding to implement any of the proposed follow-on missions, including a âViking
3â rover.
While NASAâs next Mars mission, the Mars Observer orbiter, got started in the
1980s, the agencyâs Mars exploration program wasnât really invigorated until the
1990s, thanks to several factors, ranging from NASA administrator Dan Goldinâs
push for âfaster, better, cheaperâ missions to evidence of past microbial life
on Mars found in a Martian meteorite (which most of the scientific community has
since rejected.) That program survived the twin failures of Mars Climate Orbiter
and Mars Polar Lander in 1999 in a restructured form, one driven by science and
focused on âfollowing the waterâ to determine Marsâs past habitability through a
series of missions, rather than Vikingâs home run swing-and-miss of directly
searching for life.
And what of the future of Mars exploration? It âwill likely
emulate the rhythm of the past,â Lambright argues.
Parts of the story of NASAâs Mars exploration efforts have been told before,
either in books about specific missions or some behind-the-scenes accounts of
the program, like Scott Hubbardâs 2012 account of his time as the first âMars
czarâ during the programâs restructuring in 2000 (see âReview: Exploring Marsâ, The Space Review, February
13, 2012). However, Why Mars offers a comprehensive overview of the
entire robotic Mars exploration program at NASA, including the political
maneuverings in Washington among NASA, the White House and its Office of
Management and Budget, and Congress to fund various elements of that program and
deal with the inevitable cost overruns and budget shortfalls.
Only in the bookâs last chapter does Lambright go from discussing that
programmatic history to answering the question posed by the bookâs title: why go
to Mars? âThe robotic program has been sustained mainly by the quest to
determine whether life exists or has ever existed on Mars, and also by the need
to send robotic precursors if human beings were ever to go there,â he argues.
Thatâs been supported by what he calls a âloose coalition of Mars advocatesâ
inside and outside government, ranging from individuals within NASA to
organizations and companies that benefit from Mars exploration to advocacy
groups like The Planetary Society.
And what of the future of Mars exploration? It âwill likely emulate the
rhythm of the past,â Lambright argues, with successes and setbacks towards a
long-term goal of Mars sample return, a goal of Mars exploration advocates for
decades. Achieving that goal is also âa potentially big step towards human
spaceflight,â he argues, although some human Mars exploration supporters, like
Robert Zubrin of the Mars Society, would argue that sample return is not needed
before sending humans there. In any case, the history of NASAâs robotic Mars
exploration program, as recounted in Why Mars, can provide lessons
learned and guidance for its future.
by Jeff Foust
Why
Mars: NASA and the Politics of Space Exploration
by W. Henry
Lambright
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2014
hardcover, 336 pp.
ISBN
978-1-4214-1279-5
US$49.95
Given how much weâre still learning about Marsâand how far away the prospects
of humans on the surface of the Red Planet remain todayâitâs easy to forget that
NASA has been exploring the planet with spacecraft for nearly half a century.
This November marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Mariner 4, which, in
July of 1965, became the first spacecraft to successfully fly past Mars and
return images. Since then NASA has sent other spacecraft to fly by, orbit, land,
and rove; today two rovers are in operation on the surface of Mars and two
spacecraft are working in orbit, with a third to arrive next month.
Most of the book might have been more accurately titled âHow
Mars,â as itâs a programmatic history of NASAâs robotic Mars exploration
efforts, from the agencyâs origins in the late 1950s through the end of
2012.
NASA has not achieved that half-century of progress in a steady fashion,
though. Since the 1960s there have been ups and downs, successes and failures,
flurries of missions followed by long gaps. While NASAâs Mars Exploration
Program looks stable today, just two years ago there were questions about its
long-term future: at the time Curiosity landed on Mars, there were no missions
on the books beyond the MAVEN orbiter. This sustained exploration, in spite of
considerable instability, is the subject of Why Mars by W. Henry
Lambright, a professor of public affairs at Syracuse University who has
previously written about space policy and history.
Most of the book might have been more accurately titled âHow Mars,â as itâs a
programmatic history of NASAâs robotic Mars exploration efforts, from the
agencyâs origins in the late 1950s through the end of 2012, when NASA announced
plans for a Mars rover mission in 2020. The emphasis here is on âNASA,â
âprogrammatic,â and ârobotic.â Thereâs little about other nationsâ Mars
exploration programs except in regards to potential cooperation, such as NASAâs
aborted cooperation with ESA on ExoMars. While there is some discussion of the
science done by the missions, it is not a primary focus of the book (there are
no images of Mars, or even of Mars spacecraft, in the entire book.) Proposals
for human exploration of Mars also get limited attention in the book, although
none have advanced very far compared to the history of robotic exploration.
Within that narrow focus, though, Lambright tells a thorough story of NASAâs
efforts to send a series of increasingly capable spacecraft to Mars. The flyby
missions of Mariner 4 and its successors led to the first Mars orbiter, Mariner
9, and then the Viking program of orbiters and landers. Viking, while a
scaled-back replacement for the far more ambitious Voyager Mars missions
proposed in the 1960s (not to be confused with the Voyager missions to the outer
solar system), was still criticized by some as too great of a leap in the quest
to find evidence of life on Mars. And, when the Viking results were, at best,
inconclusive about life there, NASAâs Mars program went on hiatus, with no
funding to implement any of the proposed follow-on missions, including a âViking
3â rover.
While NASAâs next Mars mission, the Mars Observer orbiter, got started in the
1980s, the agencyâs Mars exploration program wasnât really invigorated until the
1990s, thanks to several factors, ranging from NASA administrator Dan Goldinâs
push for âfaster, better, cheaperâ missions to evidence of past microbial life
on Mars found in a Martian meteorite (which most of the scientific community has
since rejected.) That program survived the twin failures of Mars Climate Orbiter
and Mars Polar Lander in 1999 in a restructured form, one driven by science and
focused on âfollowing the waterâ to determine Marsâs past habitability through a
series of missions, rather than Vikingâs home run swing-and-miss of directly
searching for life.
And what of the future of Mars exploration? It âwill likely
emulate the rhythm of the past,â Lambright argues.
Parts of the story of NASAâs Mars exploration efforts have been told before,
either in books about specific missions or some behind-the-scenes accounts of
the program, like Scott Hubbardâs 2012 account of his time as the first âMars
czarâ during the programâs restructuring in 2000 (see âReview: Exploring Marsâ, The Space Review, February
13, 2012). However, Why Mars offers a comprehensive overview of the
entire robotic Mars exploration program at NASA, including the political
maneuverings in Washington among NASA, the White House and its Office of
Management and Budget, and Congress to fund various elements of that program and
deal with the inevitable cost overruns and budget shortfalls.
Only in the bookâs last chapter does Lambright go from discussing that
programmatic history to answering the question posed by the bookâs title: why go
to Mars? âThe robotic program has been sustained mainly by the quest to
determine whether life exists or has ever existed on Mars, and also by the need
to send robotic precursors if human beings were ever to go there,â he argues.
Thatâs been supported by what he calls a âloose coalition of Mars advocatesâ
inside and outside government, ranging from individuals within NASA to
organizations and companies that benefit from Mars exploration to advocacy
groups like The Planetary Society.
And what of the future of Mars exploration? It âwill likely emulate the
rhythm of the past,â Lambright argues, with successes and setbacks towards a
long-term goal of Mars sample return, a goal of Mars exploration advocates for
decades. Achieving that goal is also âa potentially big step towards human
spaceflight,â he argues, although some human Mars exploration supporters, like
Robert Zubrin of the Mars Society, would argue that sample return is not needed
before sending humans there. In any case, the history of NASAâs robotic Mars
exploration program, as recounted in Why Mars, can provide lessons
learned and guidance for its future.