List of non-fiction books about Mars
The intent of this list is to provide a recommended list of non-fiction books that will provide an introduction to the high level hierarchy of categories in Marspedia: Mars Planetary Science, Mars Spacecraft/Robotic Missions, Mars Human Exploration (plans), Mars Human Settement (plans), Mars Outreach, and Mars Arts and Literature.
To that end there are several references[1][2][3] that have been used to establish the table of recommended books that appear on this page. Because the factual data regarding Mars is growing exponentially in recent years the reader may find the ability to list the table by year of publication most useful in establishing a list of priority in reading about Mars physical properties, geography, geology, orbital surveyors, surface rovers, or recommendations for future missions of humans to Mars.
| Title | Author | Year | ISBN # | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Atlas of Mars: Mapping Its Geography and Geology | Kenneth S. Coles, Kenneth L. Tanaka, Philip R. Christensen | 2019 | 978-1107036291 | The most current atlas of Mars. Map quadrangles are at 1:10,000,000 scale |
| Human Missions to Mars: Enabling Technologies for Exploring the Red Planet | Donald Rapp | 2008 | 978-3642092015 | Requirements for human missions to Mars from an engineering perspective |
| Dynamic Mars: Recent and Current Landscape Evolution of the Red Planet | Richard J. Soare, Susan J. Conway, Stephen M. Clifford | 2018 | 978-0128130186 | Explanations of geological change at the surface or near-surface of Mars |
| Next Stop Mars: The Why, How, and When of Human Missions | Giancarlo Genta | 2017 | 978-3319443102 | Historic and future human mission plans and design |
| How We'll Live on Mars (TED Books) | Stephen Petranek | 2015 | 978-1476784762 | Making the case that living on Mars is an essential back-up plan for humanity |
| Mars: A Warmer Wetter Planet | Jeffrey S. Kargel | 2004 | 1-85233-568-8 | Made a very strong argument that Liquid water was common on Mars in the past. |
| How We'll Live on Mars (TED Books) | Stephen Petranek | 2015 | 978-1476784762 | Making the case that living on Mars is an essential back-up plan for humanity |
| The Geology of Mars: Evidence from Earth-based Analogs | Edited by Mary Chapman | 2007 | 978-0-521-83292-2 | Overview of Martian geology and a discussion of hard to explain land forms |
| Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet | Steven Squyres | 2005 | 978-1623658564 | A chief scientist's view of the planning and execution of the Spirit and Opportunity missions to Mars |
| Magnificent Mars | Ken Croswell | 2003 | 978-0743226011 | a synthesis of the latest research on Mars, accompanied with full-color images |
| Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief Engineer | Rob Manning, William L. Simon | 2014 | 978-1588344731 | A behind-the-scenes account as told by the Chief Engineer |
| Postcards from Mars: The First Photographer on the Red Planet | Jim Bell | 2010 | 978-0452296749 | from the photography team lead on the Spirit and Opportunity rover missions |
| Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration | Buzz Aldrin, Leonard David | 2015 | 978-1426214684 | This Moon astronaut presents his vision for near future space exploratoin |
| The Rock from Mars: A Detective Story on Two Planets | Kathy Sawyer | 2006 | 978-1400060108 | The story of ALH84001, the Mars meteorite found in Antarctica |
| Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet | Leonard David | 2016 | 978-1426217586 | A companion piece to a National Geographic series |
| The International Atlas of Mars Exploration: Volume 1, 1953 to 2003: The First Five Decades | Phillip J. Stooke | 2012 | 978-0521765534 | Atlas covering the first five decades of the exploration of Mars |
| The International Atlas of Mars Exploration: Volume 2, 2004 to 2014: From Spirit to Curiosity | Phillip J. Stooke | 2016 | 978-1107030930 | 2nd volume of atlas that continues the story of Mars exploration through 2016 |
| Exploring Mars: Chronicles from a Decade of Discovery | Scott Hubbard | 2012 | 978-0816528967 | A NASA manage r"follows the water" in orbit and on Mars' surface in a series of missions |
| The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must | Robert Zubrin | 2011 | 978-1451608113 | Revised edition of the classic (1996) book on the Mars Direct plan to explore and settle Mars |
| Colonizing Mars The Human Mission to the Red Planet | Robert Zubrin, Joel Levin, Paul Davies | 2012 | 978-0971644526 | A roadmap to Mars. How it can be done, what it would be like, and how the mission can be paid for |
| The Atmosphere and Climate of Mars | Robert M. Haberle, R. Todd Clancy, François Forget, Michael D. Smith, Richard W. Zurek | 2017 | 978-1107016187 | This book brings together the many new ideas about the atmosphere and climate system of Mars |
| Working on Mars: Voyages of Scientific Discovery with the Mars Exploration Rovers | William J. Clancey | 2012 | 978-0262017756 | A story of the JPL team that remotely operated the Mars Exploration Rovers |
| Sojourner: An Insider's View of the Mars Pathfinder Mission | Andrew Mishkin | 2004 | 978-0425198391 | An insider's view of the JPL led Mars Pathfinder mission |
| Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, and the Birth of a World | Oliver Morton | 2003 | 978-0312422615 | The story of how we are able to map Mars in some ways better than Earth itself. |
| On to Mars 2: Exploring and Settling a New World | Frank Crossman and Robert Zubrin | 2005 | 978-1894959308 | 130 papers and essays from the annual conferences of the Mars Society |
| Going to Mars: The Stories of the people Behind NASA's Mars Missions Past, Present, and Future | Garfield Reeves-Steven, Judith Reeves-Stevens), Brian Muirhead | 2004 | 978-0671027964 | A JPL scientist traces the history of Mars exploration and projects the future directions of expeditions to Mars |
| Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void | Mary Roach | 2010 | 978-0393339918 | A human perspective of what space travel will be like |
| Mars Up Close: Inside the Curiosity Mission | Marc Kaufman | 2014 | 978-1426212789 | A National Geographic publication on the Curiosity Mission |
| How to Live on Mars: A Trusty Guidebook to Surviving and Thriving on the Red Planet | Robert Zubrin | 2008 | 978-0307407184 | The practicalities of your average Mars settler. |
| Mars Direct | Robert Zubrin | 2016 | 978-0974144351 | The author describes his relatively simple plan, called Mars Direct, that could feasibly have humans on the surface of Mars within a decade |
| The Geology of Mars | Thomas A. Mutch, R Arvidson | 1977 | 978-0691081731 | An encyclopedic book on Mars geology |
| A Traveler’s Guide to Mars: The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet | William K. Hartmann | 2003 | 978-0761126065 | A traveler's guide to the evolution of Mars geology from a member of the Mars Global Surveyor science team |
| On to Mars: Colonizing a New World | Robert Zubrin and Frank Crossman | 2002 | 978-1896522906 | A compendium of papers from the annual conferences of the Mars Society |
| Human Exploration of Mars: Design Reference Architecture 5.0 | Bert G. Drake | 2009 | NASA-SP-2009-566 | The systems and operations that would be used for the first three missions to explore the surface of Mars by humans |
| Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 - Addendum | Bert G. Drake | 2009 | NASA/SP–2009–566-ADD | Addendum to The systems and operations that would be used for the first three missions to explore the surface of Mars by humans |
| Geology of Mars | James W. Head | 2006 | http://www.planetary.brown.edu/pdfs/2949.pdf | A multi-referenced review of the evolving understanding of geology on Mars |
| The Snows of Olympus: A Garden on Mars | Arthur C. Clarke | 1994 | 978-0575063228 | The author presents his vision of the colonization of Mars and shows what humans could do to make it inhabitable |
| Mars, the Red Planet | Iaaac Asimov | 1977 | 978-0688418120 | A study of Mars from the earliest discoveries of its distance, size, and satellites to recent data gathered during the Viking probes |
References
