Based on interviews with the scientists and engineers who built and now operate the rover
Explains how the rover has actually functioned on Mars, including the wear on its components
Collects a wide variety of otherwise inaccessible information on rover engineering, including corrections to previously published work
Provides a one-of-a-kind reference to a mission that is likely to last for another decade at least, and which will need to onboard numerous scientists and engineers into operational roles
Emily Lakdawalla is a planetary scientist who came to the discipline with a background as a boots-on-the-ground field geologist. Although not currently performing research, she has served as an interpreter of planetary science for the public through writing and editing the blog for The Planetary Society for nearly seven years. Lakdawalla is also a Contributing Editor to
Sky & Telescope magazine and has written numerous articles for The Planetary Society's
Planetary Report.
Lakdawalla has been following the Mars Science Laboratory mission closely since its inception, attending all relevant public meetings, including the last three landing site selection meetings and frequently checking in on its progress from the observation deck over the clean room at JPL.