Exploration and Engineering
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Quest for Mars
Published on 29. November 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-1-4214-2122-3 (ISBN)
Description
Although the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has become synonymous with the United States' planetary exploration during the past half century, its most recent focus has been on Mars. Beginning in the 1990s and continuing through the Mars Phoenix mission of 2007, JPL led the way in engineering an impressive, rapidly evolving succession of Mars orbiters and landers, including roving robotic vehicles whose successful deployment onto the Martian surface posed some of the most complicated technical problems in space flight history. In Exploration and Engineering, Erik M. Conway reveals how JPL engineers' creative technological feats led to major breakthroughs in Mars exploration. He takes readers into the heart of the lab's problem-solving approach and management structure, where talented scientists grappled with technical challenges while also coping, not always successfully, with funding shortfalls, unrealistic schedules, and managerial turmoil.
Conway, JPL's historian, offers an insider's perspective into the changing goals of Mars exploration, the ways in which sophisticated computer simulations drove the design process, and the remarkable evolution of landing technologies over a thirty-year period.
Conway, JPL's historian, offers an insider's perspective into the changing goals of Mars exploration, the ways in which sophisticated computer simulations drove the design process, and the remarkable evolution of landing technologies over a thirty-year period.
Reviews / Votes
A masterpiece of research and writing. Quest: History of Spaceflight Quarterly A 'must' for any reader of modern astronomy who wants insights into how the lab conducts its research, solves problems, and handle[s] technological challenges. Midwest Book Review A great tale of ambition, mishap and recovery, building on extensive archival research and interviews with JPL managers, scientists and engineers, to deliver a detailed overview of each mission's feats and failures... Exploration and Engineering is a great book for everyone seriously interested in the struggles and achievements of JPL as NASA's centre for Mars exploration. Sky at Night According to Conway, there is a 'disconnect' between the desire to travel into space and the desire to understand it. This 'disconnect' is a more fundamental difficulty for NASA than decades' worth of budget cuts. It's a contradiction that's built into the agency's structure, which includes a human exploration program on the one hand and a scientific program on the other... Conway puts himself on the side of science, and, as far as he's concerned, humans are the wrong stuff. They shouldn't even be trying to get to another planet. Not only are they fragile, demanding, and expensive to ship; they're a mess. New Yorker Will be appreciated by space enthusiasts, especially those interested in the perennial NASA battle over whether to fund unmanned science probes or human spaceflight. Choice This book is a must-read in the history of space exploration. Students of engineering, management, and history of technology will find much to enjoy in this virtual tour behind the scenes of some of NASA's most famous and evocative missions. Metascience A detailed book, Exploration and Engineering is a necessary read for anyon ewho wants to know about how space exploration becomes possible, useful to those studying the evolution and transmission of engineering knowledge, British Journal for the History of ScienceMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore, MD
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
11 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder, 10 s/w Zeichnungen
10 Line drawings, black and white; 11 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
603 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4214-2122-3 (9781421421223)
DOI
10.1353/book.38783
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
05/2015
Johns Hopkins University Press
€33.43
Article exhausted; check different version
E-Book
05/2015
Johns Hopkins University Press
€24.99
Available for download
Person
Erik M. Conway is a historian of science and technology at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. He is the author of Atmospheric Science at NASA: A History.
Content
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Planetary Observers, Mars Observer
2. Politics and Engineering on the Martian Frontier
3. Attack of the Great Galactic Ghoul
4. Engineering for Uncertainty
5. Mars Mania
6. The Faster-Better-Cheaper Future
7. Revenge of the Great Galactic Ghoul
8. Recovery and Reform
9. Margins on the Final Frontier
10. Sending a Spy Satellite to Mars
11. Robotic Geologists on the Red Planet
12. Reengineering a Spacecraft, and a Program
Conclusion
Epilogue
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
1. Planetary Observers, Mars Observer
2. Politics and Engineering on the Martian Frontier
3. Attack of the Great Galactic Ghoul
4. Engineering for Uncertainty
5. Mars Mania
6. The Faster-Better-Cheaper Future
7. Revenge of the Great Galactic Ghoul
8. Recovery and Reform
9. Margins on the Final Frontier
10. Sending a Spy Satellite to Mars
11. Robotic Geologists on the Red Planet
12. Reengineering a Spacecraft, and a Program
Conclusion
Epilogue
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index