For centuries, we have longed to find signs of life on Mars, a planet with a singular hold on the human imagination. Yet it is in many ways an unlikely place to pin our hopes of finding connection in the universe. Mars is freezing, arid and seemingly empty. Still, the latest findings in space exploration reveal that, in the deep past, it was indeed the planet closest to our own.
In The Sirens of Mars, Sarah Stewart Johnson traces the history of our explorations of this enigmatic planet from the dawn of the Space Age to the awe-inspiring discoveries of today's landers, orbiters and rovers. She tells the stories of the scientists, from Carl Sagan to her mentor Maria Zuber, who chose to study Mars in the hopes of finding something greater than themselves. Through their work and her own, we come to see Mars as a place of possibility - home to the largest mountains in the solar system, valleys and riverbeds, traces of water - and the promise of life.
At a time when Mars exploration is reaching new heights, Sarah Stewart Johnson reveals how the story of Mars is also the story of Earth, and the quest to explore it a deeply human attempt to discover - if we're lucky - that we're not alone.
