#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Brilliant . . . a celebration of human ingenuity [and] the purest example of real-science sci-fi for many years . . . utterly compelling."--The Wall Street Journal The inspiration for the major motion picture Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him? NAMED ONE OF PASTE'S BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE "A hugely entertaining novel [that] reads like a rocket ship afire . . . Weir has fashioned in Mark Watney one of the most appealing, funny, and resourceful characters in recent fiction."--Chicago Tribune "As gripping as they come . . . You'll be rooting for Watney the whole way, groaning at every setback and laughing at his pitchblack humor. Utterly nail-biting and memorable."--Financial Times

Life has just turned upside down for Sanders A. Parker. His parents are talking about separating. He is being forced to spend the summer with a grandfather he hardly knows. And he has suddenly realized that he isn't an ordinary kid at all. He can't be--not with all that's going on. He must be a martian--sent to Earth to report on the terrible things that can happen to unsuspecting kids.

Using the SpectroCam-10 instrument on the Hale 200${\sp\prime}{\sp\prime}$ telecope at Palomar observatory, I have obtained an extensive set of images and spectra of Mars in the 7.5-13-$\mu$m region over the course of three successive oppositions. The data have been used to study two basic classes of scientific problems relating to the surface of Mars: the determination of the present-day thermophysical properties of the surface, and the search for spectral emissivity variations indicative of surface mineralogical composition. The results of these analyses are summarized as follows: (1) A time-sequence of thermal emission images taken over the course of one martian day shows that the present-day thermal inertia of the Cerberus region of Mars has changed since the late 1970's. Visible and near-infrared wavelength observations suggest that this change is the result of dust deposition. Modeling of the Palomar thermal IR data shows that the change in thermal inertia may be accounted for with a 2-4 mm mantle of dust, which implies a deposition rate consistent with the highest rates determined using other techniques. A deposition rate of 400 $\mu$m yr$\sp{-1}$ is probably representative of the highest rates occurring on a regional scale on Mars today. (2) A broad spectral feature at 9.2 $\mu$m has been identified in the Acidalia region of Mars. The persistence of this feature over time indicates that it is caused by spectral emissivity variations in surface materials, and not by atmospheric dust absorption. The spectral feature is interpreted to be indicative of a silicate mineralogy on the surface. Its spectral shape is consistent with the laboratory-measured emissivity spectrum of a glassy basalt sample. (3) A global spectral map shows that Acidalia. is not the only region on the planet that displays thermal IR spectral features. Other areas of the planet, concentrated in the northern latitudes, display spectral features similar to Acidalia. There are also regions that display spectral features distinctly different from Acidalia, indicating that the surface of Mars is not mineralogically homogeneous. Areas showing spectral features are spatially well correlated with predictions of a rock abundance model that is based on thermophysical properties.