Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination and the Birth of a World

Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination and the Birth of a World
Oliver Morton

A narrative history of the men and women who have explored Mars and mapped its surface from afar, and in so doing conditioned our understanding of our nearest planetary neighbour.The maps of Mars are exquisitely detailed representations of a land as large as all the continents of the earth combined. Yet they are being drawn before any human eye has seen the wonders they contain. In this fascinating mix of science, travel and the history of scientific imagination, Oliver Morton tells the story of the men and women who are mapping a dramatic, mysterious landscape, without having once set foot on its surface. Filled with awe-inspiring detail about volcanoes twice the height of Everest, basins deeper than the Pacific, ‘Mapping Mars’ is a breathtaking account of a world opening up to the imagination.

OLIVER MORTON

Mapping Mars

SCIENCE, IMAGINATION AND

THE BIRTH OF A WORLD

Copyright (#ulink_5980f2ed-394b-5340-af93-5e8891ca2d9a)

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 77–85 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8JB www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2002

Copyright © Abq72 Ltd 2002

The right of Oliver Morton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9781841156699

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN: 9780007397051

Version: 2014-09-15

Dedication (#ulink_6a407723-0b66-5ad0-8545-96aa5ec89064)

For Lieutenant Arthur Noel Morton, RNVR

Navigating officer, HMS Hargood, 1944–5 Lover of maps, lover of writing and loving father – ‘Round about here, Sir.’

Contents

Cover (#u7b10788a-bf72-528a-833a-51fff7e2d109)

Title Page (#u6baf7ad8-06ae-51de-963b-c00ee42f186f)

Copyright (#ucb39a3b8-4da0-54b8-9423-72e13d7be0c6)

Dedication (#u08949b24-3861-506d-85c0-856ac82d8eed)

Preface (#ulink_92a9f760-f22a-53e7-80b4-5de76b270342)

Introduction (#u8b56b6c7-eb12-51df-9630-1317cbb96260)

Part One – Maps (#ub108d47e-9f0d-528e-95e5-403888de9223)

Greenwich (#u6baca6f5-d8ff-56d5-9c7b-9a6abaf10123)

A Point of Warlike Light (#uc26ce39a-5dd0-5e81-82f8-365037c55f99)

Mert Davies’s Net (#u68ae7eed-2f6d-5bac-9f68-5c6ba09c0ea0)

The Polar Lander (#ued04aaff-6195-5c38-ba72-25004517ef56)

Mariner 9 (#uc2e874c3-557e-52c4-afca-8872fd59e53b)

The Art of Drawing (#u33840cb8-998b-5aa6-8126-62d9cf727e8a)

The Laser Altimeter (#uc981fd55-68c0-5f55-a703-a28d8a9f6756)

Part Two – Histories (#u5bfed289-862b-5051-b148-e3f7b0406c47)

Meteor Crater (#u2a2ccbd4-1acd-5d79-9091-8f387e7b9528)

‘A Little Daft on the Subject of the Moon’ (#u6b737bac-146d-59bc-be2e-2810e0412ef9)

An Antique Land (#litres_trial_promo)

Maps and Multiple Hypotheses (#litres_trial_promo)

The Artist’s Eye (#litres_trial_promo)

Layers (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three – Water (#litres_trial_promo)

Malham (#litres_trial_promo)

Mike Carr’s Mars (#litres_trial_promo)

Reflections (#litres_trial_promo)

Shorelines (#litres_trial_promo)

The Ocean Below (#litres_trial_promo)

‘Common Sense and Uncommon Subtlety’ (#litres_trial_promo)