Fly Me to Mars by Catherine Weitz,

Take a trip to the 4th planet from our Sun - MARS! Explore the tallest volcano (Olympus Mons) and the largest canyon system (Valles Marineris) in the Solar System. Visit the Martian polar regions and the two small moons that orbit around Mars. Check out what Mars may have been like in the past and discover how it compares to our Earth.

“Fly Me to Mars” provides a simple but knowledgeable overview of the planet Mars. The book is written from a child’s perspective as a fantasy trip taken to the planet with visits to all the major features that make Mars unique in our Solar System. With the successful landing of the Phoenix spacecraft on May 25, 2008 and the continued exploration by the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, not to mention multiple orbiters circling around Mars and taking observations of the surface and atmosphere, Mars is under intensive scrutiny these days. For children and parents alike who want to find out what we know about Mars from these missions, this book will give some answers. The book provides all the important details about what Mars is like today and what the climate may have been like in the past when conditions could have been more like those we now enjoy on Earth. Hopefully this book will inspire children to dream about a real trip to Mars some time soon in the future.

Author Bio: Dr. Catherine Weitz is a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute based in Tucson, AZ. Her research interests include light-toned layered deposits in Valles Marineris on Mars, rock fragments and soils at the Opportunity landing site on Mars, and explosive volcanic deposits on the Moon. In addition to her studies of the Moon and Mars, she has also done research on Venus and the Jupiter moon Ganymede.

She received a PhD from Brown University in Geological Sciences where she conducted both remote sensing and microscopic studies of volcanic glasses found at the Apollo landing sites. She got a Masters degree from Caltech in Planetary Sciences and a Bachelors degree from Cornell University in Geological Sciences.

Dr. Weitz is currently a co-investigator on the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera that is taking spectacular high-resolution images of the surface of Mars. She is also a member of the science team on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission. Before starting her job at the Planetary Science Institute, she worked as a visiting scientist and research associate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. During this time at NASA Headquarters, she was the Program Scientist for both the Mars Exploration Rover mission and the Mars Express mission.

Prior to receiving her PhD, she worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA on several missions, including the Magellan mission to Venus, the Shuttle Imaging Radar project, and the 2001 Mars lander (which was later cancelled). Dr. Weitz has received numerous awards, including several NASA Group Achievement awards, a National Research Council post-doctoral fellowship award, and the Zonta Amelia Earhart fellowship award. She has published dozens of papers and abstracts in various scientific journals.

She now lives in northern Virginia with her partner John and 2 children, Rachel and Patrick. Her hobbies include taking her kids on strolls, painting, and watching games of the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots.

Childrens Book ISBN - 1-57785-783-6 $9.95