Uncover Exploration And Engineering: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory And The Quest For Mars Edited By Erik M. Conway Released As Audio Books

the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has become synonymous with the United States' planetary exploration during the past half century, its most recent focus has been on Mars.
Beginning in thes and continuing through the Mars Phoenix mission of, JPL led the way in engineering an impressive, rapidly evolving succession of Mars orbiters and landers, including roving robotic vehicles whose successful deployment onto the Martian surface posed some of the most complicated technical problems in space flight history.


In Exploration and Engineering, Erik M, Conway reveals how JPL engineers' creative technological feats led to major breakthroughs in Mars exploration, He takes readers into the heart of the lab's problemsolving approach and management structure, where talented scientists grappled with technical challenges while also coping, not always successfully, with funding shortfalls, unrealistic schedules, and managerial turmoil.


Conway, JPL's historian, offers an insider's perspective into the changing goals of Mars exploration, the ways in which sophisticated computer simulations drove the design process, and the remarkable evolution of landing technologies over a thirtyyear period.
I saw Conway give a talk at JPL, It was brilliant. His knowledge of space history is encyclopedic and the presentation was dynamic, So I had to read his book,

My astronomical expectations were only slightly disappointed, Exploration and Engineering delves deeply into mission details, It taught me much of relevance to my work at JPL, However, it reads more like a textbook than a story, Dramatic incidents that should put the reader on the edge of her seat are presented in a matteroffact tone, and Conway is not careful to preserve the element of surprise.
Flaws in the narrative flow also occasionally make

it difficult to tell whether Conway is revisiting an event or moving on, Occasionally he even refers in passing to events he has not yet introduced I often found myself slightly confused,

I suppose a real enthusiast should prefer Conway's dry style to the sensationalist alternative, But the truth is that I really wanted to read a JPL version of The Right Stuff! So my three should not dissuade anyone looking for a meaty, factual, historical treatise.
Erik Conway is a historian of science and technology residing in Pasadena, CA, He is currently employed by the California Institute of Technology, .