Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet

Found in 2 comments on Hacker News

trestenhortz · 2021-01-09 · Original thread

This book is written by Steven Squyres, the principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission.

I got at as a Christmas present and didn’t expect much but it turned out to be one of the best books I have read:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Roving-Mars-Steve-Squyres/dp/14013...

aspectmin · 2019-02-14 · Original thread

Steven Squyres, the Principal Scientist of the program came to Microsoft to give a talk. One of the best talks I’ve been to.

So many interesting tidbits like the parts about the rovers expected short lifetime due to the dust, and how (if I remember correctly) they fixed this by shaking the solar panels like wings.

He talked about the rover drivers, and how they all had to live in special light cycle controlled buildings to get them used to working on Martian days vs. Earth (the extra hour adds up over time).

He wrote a book, a worthy read. The printing I got had some amazing pictures in it:

https://www.amazon.com/Roving-Mars-Spirit-Opportunity-Explor...

RIP Opportunity. An amazing testament to our need to explore.

ISBN: 9781401381912