Fully updated to take into account the most recent discoveries The Smithsonian Book of Mars offers a journey to the red planet, exploring its atmosphere, climate and remarkable geology with its canals and extraordinary topographic features including a volcano that towers fourteen miles above the plane s surface. The author, formerly NASA s Mars program scientist, addresses the question of past and present life on Mars and the possible of future of manned exploration and colonization. Includes 50 color plates, 30 black and white photographs, charts and maps.