Publisher's Synopsis
Bringing Home a Piece of Mars will bring together in book form, for the first time, all credible and accessible information on previous robotic Mars spacecraft and detailing all projected plans for future piloted and robotic Mars Sample Return (MSR) missions. The roots of future exploration extend back to the 1960s and `70s, to programmes such as the cancelled Voyager Venus-Mars programme; the highly successful Mariners 4, 6, 7 and 9 spacecraft; the Soviet Luna sample returns missions, Mars missions and Phobos probes. More recently, interest in a Mars Sample Return has been heightened by the exciting results of Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Pathfinder/Sojourner, Mars Odyssey, and the Mars Express/Beagle 2, and Mars Exploration Rover missions now underway. Drawing on key interviews with MSR planning participants and Mars scientists, this is the first-ever overview in one book of MSR and related issues such as planetary protection, and the mission's role as a precursor to future piloted Mars exploration. It provides a unique insight into the history of Mars Sample Return and its future implementation, a critical mission in the exploration of Mars and the search for life elsewhere in the Solar System.
