Mars Rover Curiosity

An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief Engineer

By: Rob Manning, William L. Simon

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

In the course of our enduring quest for knowledge about ourselves and our universe, we haven't found answers to one of our most fundamental questions: Does life exist anywhere else in the universe? Ten years and billions of dollars in the making, the Mars rover Curiosity is poised to answer this all-important question.

Here, Rob Manning, the project's chief engineer, tells of bringing the groundbreaking spacecraft to life. Manning and his team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tasked with designing a lander many times larger and more complex than any before, faced technical setbacks, fights over inadequate resources, and the challenges of leading an army of brilliant, passionate, and often frustrated experts.

Manning's fascinating personal account—which includes information from his exclusive interviews with leading Curiosity scientists—is packed with tales of revolutionary feats of science, technology, and engineering. Listeners experience firsthand the disappointment at encountering persistent technical problems, the agony of near defeat, the sense of victory at finding innovative solutions to these problems, the sheer terror of staking careers and reputations on a lander that couldn't be tested on Earth, and the rush of triumph at its successful touchdown on Mars on August 5, 2012. This is the story of persistence, dedication, and unrelenting curiosity.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2014 Rob Manning, William L. Simon (P)2014 Blackstone Audio

Awesome

The book was well written and the story kept me engaged throughout. Working on interplanetary missions is a dream come true and its so cool to get a view in to the inner workings at Nasa. Hope more authors come up with stories about their missions.

Great story for project managers

This provides an interesting and informative story about the development of both a technically and politically challenging program. Besides being entertaining it also provides insight into the challenges of project management.

good story, bad narration

narrator could put you to sleep but it's a good book about the design, building, and testing of the curiosity rover

Good overview

Good chronological overview. Right amount of technical info for a "non-technical" person like myself. Wasn't quite as inspiring as other space related audibles I have listened to, but seems to be intended to be more factual.

Curiosity - an account of how the best and brightest opened the door to Mars

This book is ideal for apace exploration enthusiasts and for folks who develop complex new projects. It provides a terrific narrative to the ups and downs of doing something new and taking risks to accomplish these new developments. Also good for high school and college students to see what it takes to do great things.

Terrific book, wonderfully read!....thanks To All, Ken