Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: PhilCo126 May 19 2006, 06:33 AM

O.K. about which unmanned spaceflight missions (subjects) would You like to see a book published?

Posted by: PhilCo126 May 19 2006, 07:02 AM

Well, here are some... upcoming books:

RESEARCH / GENERAL

Into the Black : JPL and the American Space Program, 1976-2004 (Hardcover) by Peter WESTWICK. ( Yale University Press January 2007)
Science in Flux: NASA's Nuclear Program at Plum Brook Station, 1955–2000, by Mark BOWLES Spring 2006

PLANETS

Mission to Jupiter: a history of the Galileo project – by Michael MELTZER ( summer 2006 )
Captain’s log: The voyage of the spacecraft Cassini by Dr Carolyn Porco … end 2006
Ambassadors from Earth … medio 2007 ?

MOON

Unconventional, Contrary and Ugly: the story of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle – by Gene MATRANGA, Wayne OTTINGER and Cal JARVIS ( end 2006 )
Lunar and Planetary Rovers: The Wheels of Apollo and the Quest for Mars – Anthony YOUNG
ISBN: 0-387-30774-5. Due: Aug. 2006
To Go to the Moon: Comparisons of the Soviet and American Lunar Quest, ~Brian Harvey, David J. Shayler, Springer-Verlag New York Inc. Paperback . (release date: May 2007)

Posted by: centsworth_II May 19 2006, 04:39 PM

I hope Steve Squires writes a follow up to Roving Mars.

Posted by: djellison May 19 2006, 07:16 PM

Well Jim's doing his 'Postcards..' book which I'm very much looking forward to - probably ready for this coming holiday season hopefully

Doug

Posted by: paxdan May 19 2006, 10:59 PM

More than anything i'm looking forward to a Michael Light-esque treatment of the MER image return. Just the absolute cream of the crop, stunning single frames, increadible landscapes, and a super glossy treatment that opens a window to mars with each freshly turned page. A book of 'place', which turns the inherent fiction of mars exploration into reality.

Plus, i expect the Hubble Heritage people to put out an absolute stunner of a volume at Hubble EOM. Such increadible, sublime riches! How could it be anything less than a magnificent triumph if done right.

Posted by: Bob Shaw May 19 2006, 11:09 PM

Paxdan:

Yes - Michael Light's book is a joy. It didn't sell well locally, and turned up in the Borders sale - I bought half a dozen copies of the digest-sized version which have been used to Corrupt The Innocent!

A serious photography/science/art treatment of some of the other images which are out there would be great, though it might not be particularly commercial - but that's the also joy of Lulu (etc).

Bob Shaw

Posted by: centsworth_II May 20 2006, 06:13 AM

So this would be the second book detailing the MER mission while the rovers continue to trundle on. Fantastic!

Posted by: PhilCo126 May 20 2006, 04:39 PM

Well the MER follow-on book by SQUYRES is a nice thing to look forward to, as is the book Doug is planning ...
Another book in the making is " Ambassadors from Earth ", focusing on unmanned spaceflight and the early years of UMSF ( Dr van Allen, early JPL etc... ) More on the latter as soon as I get that information!

Posted by: hendric May 28 2006, 05:10 AM

Well, there are the unpublished books I have planned in my head.

A children's book about Spirit and Opportunity, about the travels and travails they have had, with pictures from Mars from the regulars and Stu's poetry to go with it. My 3.5 yr old son is always talking about how he wants to fix Spirit's broken wheel, etc. and I would love to have a picture book to show and read with him. I think one for each rover, or a book that flips over to show the other story, would be great. Someday, I'll have enough time to do this using the available images and release it for free on the 'Net.

A theatrical play of Spirit's journey, with actors for Mission Control and the rover. Just the idea of someone wearing a Pancam mast on their head and six wheels makes me laugh. It would have to include landing, the flash memory failure, Bonneville, the race to Columbia Hills, dust devils, reaching the peak, the broken wheel and ending up at Winter Quarters.

A similar play for Opportunity would include landing, Eagle crater, Endurance, Heat shield, Purgatory Dune, Erebus, the race for Victoria, and hopefully the view from Victoria.

Of course, the scenery would be critical.

And just a general project I would love to do would be to build a MER whirligig. What's a whirligig? Here's some examples:

http://www.beamscreations.com/pages/whirligigs.html#Snowman

My idea is to use copper sheets to create a MER model, with the pancam, IDD, and high-gain antenna tied to the windmill power train. Wouldn't it be the coolest to have a little MER in your garden that would wiggle around when the wind blows?

Posted by: centsworth_II May 28 2006, 05:24 PM

As part of a solar energy project, I half-seriously thought about getting two real 4' long solar panels and mounting them on either side of a plywood MRO scale model.

Posted by: PhilCo126 May 29 2006, 10:56 AM

hendric Your idea to build a whirligig MER is outstanding