The publisher TASCHEN, known for its visually stunning publications, has published a new space book entitled “MARS. Photographs from the NASA Archives”.

The illustrated book is 340 pages long, multilingual (German, English and French) and weighs 2.92 kg. As the title suggests, the illustrated book is devoted to the planet Mars, which has always fascinated people. First observed through a telescope by Galileo Galilei in 1610, the planet then became a source of inspiration and scientific observation from the end of the 19th century. Schiaparelli’s publication of the “canali” on Mars also led to speculation for the first time about the possibility of intelligent life on Mars. This also had a huge impact on the pop culture of the 20th century.

The image of the planet Mars has only changed significantly since the 1960s with the visit of Mars probes and rovers, and new findings are coming in daily from the currently active seven orbiters and the two active rovers Perseverance and Curiosity.

Overall impression and content

With an impressive weight of 2.92 kg and its remarkable design, the MARS illustrated book makes a strong impression on first contact.

You can feel the weight immediately when you open the package. The cover is beautifully designed, depicting a mosaic of 100 Viking images from the Valles Marineris hemisphere. Valles Marineris, the Tharsis volcanoes and other geological elements have been embedded into the cover, creating a tactile effect. This makes the book look special and attractive. The illustrated book dazzles with breathtaking images of Mars from the NASA archives. Many well-known, but also unknown images are included. Emily Lakdawalla, a well-known American planetary scientist and science writer, describes each individual image in an understandable way and explains the specific features of the images.

In the book, images of Mars probes and rovers alternate with historical photos, old book and film posters as well as illustrations and paintings about Mars. This combination of historical documents and current images creates a fascinating arc from the first observations of Mars to modern space travel. It is a pleasure to flip through the pages one by one and look at the excellent quality of the photos.

Despite the quality of the presentation, it is noticeable that the illustrated book places a clear emphasis on NASA material. While this reflects the leading role of the American space agency in Mars research, a broader international perspective could have further enriched the work. A few selected images from ESA’s Mars Express probe are included. However, since analog Mars simulations on Earth also find a place in the book, images from our AMADEE Mars simulations would have been a perfect addition.

Overall, the illustrated book impresses with its high-quality design and the successful mix of exciting short essays by leading Mars experts and excellent image descriptions. I can highly recommend this illustrated book to anyone who appreciates beautiful images of Mars or would like to discover Mars in a more visual way.

Mars. Photographs from the NASA Archives
Hardcover with fold-out pages, 30 x 30 cm, 2.92 kg, 340 pages
ISBN 978-3-8365-8646-7
Edition: Multilingual (German, English, French)
Publication date: 18.12.2024
Price: 50 EUR.

🔗 TASCHEN publisher

The illustrated book was kindly provided to us by TASCHEN and has been given a special place in our spacesuit laboratory in Innsbruck.

Dieser Artikel ist auch verfügbar auf: German