The rock from Mars : a detective story on two planets / Kathy Sawyer.

The rock from Mars : a detective story on two planets / Kathy Sawyer.

First edition.

1400060109 (alk. paper)

New York : Random House, [2006]

©2006

English

xii, 394 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

9781400060108

QB54 .S263 2006

576.8/39

Sixteen million years ago, an asteroid crashing into Mars sent fragments flying into space and, eons later, one was pulled by the Earth's gravity onto the icy wilderness of Antarctica, where a geologist spotted it. In its new home at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the rock languished on a shelf for nine years. Then, in 1993, a geochemist unmasked the rock as a Martian meteorite. Before long, possible signs of once-living organisms were detected, and the obscure rock became a rock star. From the second the story broke in Science magazine, it spawned waves of excitement, envy, competitive zeal, and calculation. The narrative traces the steps that led to this risky move and follows the rippling impact on the scientists' lives, the future of space exploration, the search for life on Mars, and the struggle to understand the origins of life on Earth.--From publisher description.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [373]-375) and index.

Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
Sample text

On-Campus Resources > Books
All Resources