A major surprise of the Apollo Moon missions was the deleterious impact of lunar dust on the astronauts, their spacesuits and other equipment, and even inside the Command/Service Module during their return to Earth. Lunar dust permeated everything and impacted mechanical systems. The dust on the Moon’s surface was disturbed and became airborne by the routine actions of the astronauts as they walked and performed their exploration of the lunar surface. Over the last decade, as NASA’s plans for the human exploration of Mars have developed and matured, a major concern has been the possible negative impacts of Mars surface and atmospheric dust on human health and on the human surface systems and surface operations on the Red Planet. In this book, 41 Mars scientists, mission engineers and planners and medical researchers have reviewed our current understanding and identified the knowledge gaps in a wide range of areas, including the chemical, physical and electrical properties of Mars atmospheric dust; the evolution and occurrence of localized, regional and planetary-scale dust storms; the human health effects of Mars atmospheric dust, including inhalation of and potential toxicity of dust particles; and the impact of Mars atmospheric dust on surface systems and on surface operations, among others.

This study, commissioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), examines the role of robotic exploration missions in assessing the risks to the first human missions to Mars. Only those hazards arising from exposure to environmental, chemical, and biological agents on the planet are assessed. To ensure that it was including all previously identified hazards in its study, the Committee on Precursor Measurements Necessary to Support Human Operations on the Surface of Mars referred to the most recent report from NASA's Mars Exploration Program/ Payload Analysis Group (MEPAG) (Greeley, 2001). The committee concluded that the requirements identified in the present NRC report are indeed the only ones essential for NASA to pursue in order to mitigate potential hazards to the first human missions to Mars.

This volume reviews all aspects of Mars atmospheric science from the surface to space, and from now and into the past.

The workshop addressed the following questions: 1. Identification of the status of current knowledge in each of the workshop subject areas. 2. Identification of gaps in our knowledge. 3. Needed experiments and measurements to fill in the gaps of knowledge prior to the first human landing on Mars.

More than 50 years after the Mariner 4 flyby on 15 July 1965, Mars still represents the next frontier of space explorations. Of particular focus nowadays is crewed missions to the red planet. Over three sections, this book explores missions to Mars, in situ operations, and human-rated missions. Chapters address elements of design and possible psychological effects related to human-rated missions. The information contained herein will allow for the development of safe and efficient exploration missions to Mars.

From September 2007 to June 2008 the Space Studies Board conducted an international public seminar series, with each monthly talk highlighting a different topic in space and Earth science. The principal lectures from the series are compiled in Forging the Future of Space Science. The topics of these events covered the full spectrum of space and Earth science research, from global climate change, to the cosmic origins of life, to the exploration of the Moon and Mars, to the scientific research required to support human spaceflight. The prevailing messages throughout the seminar series as demonstrated by the lectures in this book are how much we have accomplished over the past 50 years, how profound are our discoveries, how much contributions from the space program affect our daily lives, and yet how much remains to be done. The age of discovery in space and Earth science is just beginning. Opportunities abound that will forever alter our destiny.