Mapping Mars: Science, imagination and the birth of a world by Oliver Morton, Fourth Estate, 拢18.99, ISBN 184115668X
THIS IS a splendid book and a major achievement in the study of Mars. It鈥檚 also much more than a book about mapping, as the subtitle suggests.
Although Oliver Morton pays due homage to generations of patient sky watchers, the real story of mapping Mars began in July 1965, when the Mariner 4 fly-by gave us a score of grainy black-and-white images. The missions that followed, with orbiters, landers and more fly-bys, provided more coverage at ever higher resolution. As scientists gradually stitched the images together to generate a pole-to-pole mosaic, the complex cratered surface of this world emerged.
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Morton has met many of the people behind this mammoth task, whose dedicated efforts have allowed him to create a 15-page guided tour of the planet. It鈥檚 a remarkable travelogue and makes you crave pictures. But while a dozen or so are included, I found myself longing for a companion CD-ROM to explore the 鈥渁ntique land鈥� described so well here.
Mars is, of course, far more than just its surface. Much of the book鈥檚 second half sets forth competing theories of the planet鈥檚 history, composition and current level of internal activity.
Water inevitably looms large, since the possibility of life as we know it depends on its presence in liquid form at least some of the time. After considering all the arguments, Morton can鈥檛 get beyond 鈥渕aybe鈥� on that one. And regarding the vexed question of primitive life forms on Mars now or in the past, he鈥檚 forced to a similarly ambiguous conclusion. Much about this planet remains mysterious.
But what about that hot topic, travelling to and even colonising the Red Planet? The major players in this debate range from the super-cautious to the wildly enthusiastic, and Oliver Morton has met them all and captured their personalities in a few well-chosen words. He has also read the relevant papers and attended the right meetings, so his view is balanced, with an occasional dash of wryness. He points out, for instance, that NASA鈥檚 budget and today鈥檚 economic climate are not conducive to sending anything to Mars, human or otherwise. And while he gives due consideration to astronautical engineer Robert Zubrin鈥檚 ambitious proposal for a crewed mission to Mars, and to the interests of private enterprise, he is sceptical, saying that 鈥渋n practical terms the government is not in the way: it is the way. No one will get to Mars without some government or other footing most of the bill.鈥�
Long before any idea of actually setting foot on the planet took hold, the idea of Martians gripped the Western psyche. When H. G. Wells serialised The War of the Worlds, it kicked off the craze, and it has popped up intermittently ever since: a whole spate of major novels featuring the Red Planet emerged in the 1990s, for instance.
Morton skilfully weaves this Mars of the imagination into the fabric of the book. He also knows all the best space art featuring the planet, and includes a handful of fine illustrations.
Mapping Mars is beautifully written and carefully edited and produced. A number of authors might fairly claim to have written the best Mars novel, but this is the best factual book on Mars that money can buy.