Driving to Mars.DRIVING TO MARS WILLIAM L. FOX "Two dozen scientists travel annually to an uninhabited island 900 miles from the North Pole North Pole, northern end of the earth's axis, lat. 90°N. It is distinguished from the north magnetic pole. U.S. explorer Robert E. Peary is traditionally credited as being the first to reach (1909) the North Pole. In 1926, Richard E. . There, they practice for a trip to Mars. Haughton crater is a 12-mile-wide, 1,000-foot-deep chasm that is the most Marslike feature on Earth. On three occasions, Fox traveled there with NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. scientists who were equipped with military vehicles and prototypical space suits. He documents their efforts to traverse and study this barren landscape. He also notes the unique problems that arise when people try to navigate a disorienting dis·o·ri·ent tr.v. dis·o·ri·ent·ed, dis·o·ri·ent·ing, dis·o·ri·ents To cause (a person, for example) to experience disorientation. Adj. 1. , featureless desert and take notes and samples while wearing 50-to-70-pound space suits. FOX details the elaborate planning that goes into provisioning and equipping one of these mock missions. Along with firsthand descriptions of the scientists at work, Fox provides asides on the history of the space program and the inspiration for a Mars voyage, the possibility of microbial microbial pertaining to or emanating from a microbe. microbial digestion the breakdown of organic material, especially feedstuffs, by microbial organisms. life on Mars Scientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars owing to the planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. It remains an open question whether life exists on Mars now, or existed there in the past. , and the ways that the planet is portrayed in the arts. Shoemaker & Hoard, 2006, 264 p., color plates, paperback, S16.00. |
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