E-Books →Sand, Snow, and Stardust How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments

Sand, Snow, and Stardust explores how the US military generated a new understanding of these environments and attempted to master them, intending to cement America's planetary power. Operating in these regions depended as much on scientific and cultural knowledge as on military expertise and technology. From General George S. Patton learning the hard way that the desert is not always hot, to the challenges of constructing a scientific research base under the Arctic ice, to the sheer implausibility of modeling Martian environments on Earth, Gretchen Heefner takes us on a wry expedition into the extremes and introduces us to the people who have shaped our insight into these extraordinary environments. Even decades after the first manned space flight, plans for human space exploration and extraplanetary colonization are still based on what we know about stark habitats on Earth.
An entertaining survey of the relationship between environmental history and military might, Sand, Snow, and Stardust also serves as a warning about the further transformation of the planet-whether through desertification, melting ice caps, or attempts to escape it entirely.