The firsthand account of the trials and tribulations of engineering
one of the most complex pieces of space technology, the Mars Rover
Curiosity, by its chief engineer Rob Manning
In the course of our enduring quest for knowledge about ourselves and
our universe, we haven't found answers to one of our most fundamental
questions: Does life exist anywhere else in the universe? Ten years and
billions of dollars in the making, the Mars Rover Curiosity is poised to
answer this all-important question.
In Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief
Engineer, Rob Manning, the project's chief engineer, tells of bringing
the groundbreaking spacecraft to life. Manning and his team at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tasked with designing a lander many times
larger and more complex than any before, faced technical setbacks,
fights over inadequate resources, and the challenges of leading an army
of brilliant, passionate, and often frustrated experts.
Manning's fascinating personal account--which includes information from
his exclusive interviews with leading Curiosity scientists--is packed
with tales of revolutionary feats of science, technology, and
engineering. Readers experience firsthand the disappointment at
encountering persistent technical problems, the agony of near defeat,
the sense of victory at finding innovative solutions to these problems,
the sheer terror of staking careers and reputations on a lander that
couldn't be tested on Earth, and the rush of triumph at its successful
touchdown on Mars on August 5, 2012. This is the story of persistence,
dedication, and unrelenting curiosity.
