Title:

The Sirens of Mars

Author:

Sarah Stewart Johnson

Category:

Non-fiction

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

March 17, 2023

hen I was much younger, I remember thinking that non-fiction books were boring (unless the books were about dinosaurs or WWII - those were okay to read). They didn't tell a story, there was no suspense. I must have thought that non-fiction books were like text books (many of which are indeed dreadfully boring). But now I find that many non-fiction books are fascinating, I delight in science, history, and generally any book the explains something from an amazing, new perspective (such as a Malcom Gladwell book). The Sirens of Mars - Searching for Life on Another World is a summary of mankind's ongoing study of Mars. Johnson's delightful book begins with the time when Galileo trained his telescope on Mars and revealed that the "wandering star" was in fact another world, and continues right up to the present day (it was published in 2020) when Curiosity is still trundling across the dead sea bottoms, looking for life.

It was Schiaparelli in 1877 who first described the features of Mars - the dark areas that looked like seas, the mountains and the channels - since he was Italian, Schiaparelli used the word canali to describe the channels. The two tiny moons of Mars were discovered. H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds in 1897. Percival Lowell at the beginning of the twentieth century used his telescope to document Mars in greater detail. Lowell put out descriptions and speculations of the possibility of a civilization on Mars. The public was fascinated by all things Martian (Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars in 1912, a book that I enjoyed even more than his more famous Tarzan of the Apes).

In the height of the Cold War, the Space Race was on. The Russians had the early advantage with Sputnick, first man in space, first space walk, etc - America decided to be the first to reach Mars, and so designed the Mariner program to send missions to Mars and Venus. This proved to be extremely difficult, with rockets crashing and program difficulties. Finally Mariner 4 flew past the red planet and return stark photos of a dead planet - there were no civilizations, seas, or atmosphere. There were no canals. Mars was a lifeless planet.

Despite the stark disappointment of the Martian surface, there was still interest in exploring our sister planet. In the early 1980s, a famous charismatic astronomer named Carl Sagan produced a documentary series called Cosmos which was watched by millions and enthralled the world. The Russians ended up being first, they successfully landed Mars 3, but it only survived for 20 seconds on the surface, to date, that is the only success that the Russians have had landing on Mars. The American achievements pulled far ahead of the Russian accomplishments with a series of ever-more-ambitious missions - Viking, Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, and Curiosity.

In parallel with the ongoing missions to Mars, Johnson fills in her life story of a girl who decides to be a scientist. Johnson is currently a professor of planetary science, her entire career is summarized in this book. She has been involved in a lot of the Martian projects, and her enthusiasm is transmitted in her writing. Johnson gives a good summary of what was learned with each mission, and how these discoveries lead to new understanding, and of course, more questions. She also was involved in the search for extremophiles here on Earth - looking for life in the harshest environments - buried deep in the Siberian permafrost, the arid plains of Antarctica or near acidic or hot water, such as Yellowstone. By studying these extreme life forms here on Earth, it is hoped that we will recognize life (if it exists) on Mars. Are the faint plumes of methane detected in the thin Martian atmosphere caused by organic processes? At the end of the book, Johnson tells us that NASA is considering a "return mission" - where promising rocks will be collected from the Martian surface and somehow flown back to Earth. She explains that moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts are still being studied today.

The Sirens of Mars is only 186 pages, so it is a quick, but fascinating read. Even though I lived through most of the events described here, I had forgotten some of them (remember the excitement about the Martian asteroid ALH80001 - found in Antarctica, it had structures that looked like tiny fossilized cells. Somehow, I had completely forgotten about the Phoenix mission to Mars!) This is a good book, and it makes me glad to read about the JPL scientists and engineers in their dogged pursuit for new knowledge, and I am glad that our nation still funds this kind of exploration.