Red Rover: Inside the Story of Robotic Space Exploration, from Genesis to the Mars Rover Curiosity

Although this book can be slow and robotic (no pun intended... OK, maybe it was intended), this book is incredibly valuable to get an in depth understanding of the complex and political environment scientists and engineers navigate to not only get a mission pushed through, but to be a part of one of the many teams that compete against each other to be included in these missions. I always knew these missions required brains, but I never knew the level of political jousting, public relations, and project pitching involved. You're left with a deep appreciation for the men and women who work very hard for something their passionate about, but you also feel sorry for them when you see their projects lose funding and die, for what can often seem like silly reasons. But as you learn, that is the nature of the beast.That said, this book is very straight forward, and though not overtly technical, it is a fact by fact, day by day account written like a true engineer would. Don't expect some romanticized deep thought provoking verbiage on space exploration. This book is about how things get done, with a few personal snip-its of personal emotions and thoughts during the process, throw into the mix. Also, keep in mind this book is written from the perspective of one man, and only about the teams he was on. Meaning that you will be reading mostly about his roll on the ChemCam team for Curiosity Rover, and his roll on the Genesis mission. There is some discussion about the missions in general, but it is mostly zeroed in on his team's work. Meaning, you should not expect to get an overall account of Mars rover missions, or even the Curiosity mission, as I expected. That is not to say this books was not intriguing and valuable, because it was. But if you want to read a wider scope about the overall Curiosity mission, or other Mars rover missions, there are plenty of other books that do this. For that reason, I won't be keeping this book, but it was still worth the read.

Keeping up with our space program is a hobby of mine, so I was already familiar with the Mars Science Laboratory mission and the rover "Curiosity" when a friend pointed out this book to me. The story of how the mast-mounted Chemcam came to be included on Curiosity's stable of scientific instruments was riveting. I was really impressed with Dr. Weins' commitment and stamina over the years required to conceive, develop and make Chemcam rugged and reliable enough for work on Mars. Some good luck was involved too; at certain points, his group was about to run out of funds just as a new source became available. My hat goes off to Dr. Weins and to all others who developed the instruments that have made Curiosity the success it is. This is a well-written book that should be read by anyone interested in our space program.

From begining to the end of the book, recent space history is presented in a impressive and easy to read format. Mars is in reach and present in this remarkable read. You can see the evolution of new ideas the led to the current ChemCam instrument from the previous Genesis probe that captured the early history of the sun. Now we have a SUV size probe Curiosity on Mars making it's own history while revealing the Martion past through geological analysis using the laser ChemCam tools. The author has personalized his experiences in this entire process, from family life to endless hours of designing, testing, and waiting to see if thier project whould be choosen by NASA for a real space flight. Every part of the emotional spectrum is presented and the the human spirit is lifted to literally new heights. Roger Wiens has again reached new heights both on paper and on Mars.

This book is a frustratingly mixed bag. It has lots of really interesting tech info, including Curiosity's ChemCam, the laser-spectroscope that zaps rocks and reads their composition. But I was expecting diagrams and other pictorial aids and there are none. All text, with just 4 glossy color pages of publicity shots. And mixed in with the good stuff is the endless politics and budget issues at NASA, maybe interesting to bureaucrats, but quickly tiresome to most readers.That said, stick with it and you will learn fascinating facts about the rovers and other robotic missions that few know.

This is another of this really good books by someone involved in two iconic space probe missions. Well written and edited properly. However I would have liked more detail and personal stories about the cruise stage of both missions. But that niggle is not a criticism - it's a compliment. The author could have made this book much longer and I would have loved it even more.

I watched the moon landing while in basic training at Lackland AFB. As a space enthusiast, it was interesting to read about the difficulty of getting a project approved by NASA. Any space mission is the result of hundreds of dedicated scientists who have loved the search for finding out answers about where we come from.Life on earth may have come from Mars and life on Mars may have come from deeper space. That's the best reason why we must go where no man has been before.

Great book, enjoyed it. Kindle version. Presented a lot of detail, behind the scene, if you will...It has lots of really interesting technical information, including Curiosity's ChemCam, the laser-spectroscope that zaps rocks and reads their composition and others. The book has numerous pictures but on the kindle you can't enlarge them so they are almost useless.too small to be of any value. The endless politics and budget issues at NASA are amazing,

This book has inspired my son to study space exploration not only in High School but now in College.

I have a huge fascination for Mars... So much so that from reading the actual Rover Manual to studying the software code I have spent tons of hours --perhaps too many hours..Even with my love of mars and anything that has anything to do with Mars, I was rather disappointed with this book. Dr Weins, certainly a great scientist isn't much of a story teller. If you have read "Roving Mars", the story of the Opportunity and Spirit rovers by Dr Steve Squyers - the Principal Investigator for those missions - you will appreciate the difference.The book first tells the story of Genesis mission- collection of Solar particles and return to earth- where Dr Weins was one of the key team members...and then moves on to tell the story of the martian rover. The book can get technical at times - for instance a whole page on what a spectrometer is , what are isotopes and other things like that. But it failed to capture my imagination in the first part ( about Genesis mission). It just wasnt'...i feel ashamed to say this being a scientis myself...sexy enough for the story.The story of the rover follows, and that is better than the first part. the book however just seems to lack a flow. The characters in the book aren't described in enough detail that you can picture them, which does not help. The writing style is a bit dull.Yes it is unfair to compare 'Red Rover' with 'Roving Mars', but it is just something I couldn't help - like the movie A Bug's life vs Antz. Steve Squyers in his book Roving Mars told this story in a fascinating way ( he is a fantastic speaker too, if you check him on youtube), and this book while it tells a similar tale of toil, disappointment and then the ultimate victory , it just has some element 'missing'.Still A decent read. If you haven't read Steve Squyers book then don't buy that yet,read this first and then buy that. Y

This book is more of an autobiography than a technical book although it also contains a fair amount of technical details on the instruments and missions for Genesis and Curiosity. Unusually for a technical book this one also has a really compelling story line and once you start reading it you may find it hard to put down.You might think that the life of a space scientist is one of unsurpassed geekiness. Not so! Follow the author as he battles against competition with the brightest minds in science, NASA bureaucracy, almost insuperable technical challenges, crushing time and budget constraints, forest fires, family problems and, if all this was not enough, living with the constant uncertainty of whether his instruments will be chosen, if the mission will ever fly and, even if it does, will the spacecraft survive launch, flight and landing.

This was a nice read, but too much about the authors experience and not so much focused on the missions and technology themselves.

A very enjoyable, insightful read.