From what I understand, there is a NASA mission to Mars in the planning stages: theage.com.au/world/want-to- … n0r07.html
You can even apply to be one of the astronauts. On the other hand, there are also reports that if you are among those selected don’t ever expect to come back: cbsnews.com/news/a-one-way-trip-to-mars/
Still, in Hollywood this sort of obstacle is easily dealt with. In what they call “the script”. Also, in Hollywood all of the astronauts are invariably young and quite attractive. And nearly all white. No exception here.
Basically, you might think of this as MacGyver on Mars. One man is up shit’s creek and even with a paddle he will almost certainly not survive. So he has to use his ingenuity to beat the extremely long odds. Luckily [unlike MacGyver] Mark has about billion things at his disposal in which to improvise with. On the other hand, MacGyver wasn’t on Mars.
Bottom line? There’s almost nothing that this guy can’t do. He even resurects Pathfiner.
Then there’s the part that revolves around the “space industrial complex”. The part about the politics of money. One really has to be grateful that it is brought up at all. Still, this film really revolves around a “predicament”: what is “mankind” obligated to do in order to save the life of just one “man”. That sort of moral quandary:
[i]Ng: We either have a high chance of killing one person or a low chance of killing six people.
Mitch: It should be Commander Lewis’ call.
Sanders: We still have a chance to bring five astronauts home safe and sound. I’m not risking their lives.
Mitch: Let them make that decision.
Sanders: Mitch, we’re going with option one.
Mitch: You goddamn coward.[/i]
So, how realistic is the science here? It’s said to be reasonably so. And this is down the road from the things that we know today. So the assumption is that we’ll know a lot more then. But: How realistic is the plot? Well, if you haven’t seen the film, you don’t want to know.
Hint: It’s preposterous.
On the other hand: As though I could know that.
One of those strange films in which, from start to finish, everything is entirely predictable. And yet somehow the whole is able to become more than the sum of its parts.
IMDb
[b]It’s never addressed in the movie how Watney navigates without a GPS or compass (Mars has no magnetic field, making a compass useless). In the book, he uses the quick passage of the moon Phobos to orient himself.
In the beginning, it is mentioned that a compromised space suit would cause decompression, giving someone about a minute to live. This is scientifically correct; contrary to popular belief, acute decompression in space or a planet with very low pressure like Mars does not cause the body to immediately explode or expand. Major effects include confusion, loss of consciousness and some subdermal bleeding, but it is generally agreed that a healthy human body can survive one minute in vacuum without life-threatening consequences.
The suits in the film use a very complex and actual functioning lighting system.
One of Mars’s panoramic shots shows Olympus Mons, the largest discovered volcano in the solar system. It is almost three times larger than Mount Everest and covers an area about the size of Missouri.
The atmospheric pressure on the Martian surface averages 600 Pa (0.087 psi), about 0.6% of Earth’s mean sea level pressure of 100 kPa (14.69 psi). It is so low that a “fierce storm”, as they put it, would be something akin to a very light breeze messing up your hair. Author Andy Weir admitted this was his biggest inaccuracy in the story. Due to the low air density sound would not travel like it does on Earth and you would have to stand next to someone and scream for them to hear you, providing you could survive the freezing cold temperature, poisonous atmosphere and lack of pressure.
A real potato farm was installed on the studio lot with potatoes in all stages of growth so they could be used for filming.[/b]
All the rest of the trivia: imdb.com/title/tt3659388/tri … =ttqu_sa_1
FAQ at IMDb: imdb.com/title/tt3659388/faq?ref_=tt_faq_sm
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(film
trailer: youtu.be/Ue4PCI0NamI
THE MARTIAN [2015]
Directed by Ridley Scott
[b]Melissa: All right team, stay in sight of each other. Let’s make NASA proud today.
Martinez: How’s it looking over there, Watney?
Mark: Well, you will be happy to hear that in Grid Section 14-28, the particles were predominately coarse but in 29, they’re much finer and they should be ideal for chem analysis.
Martinez: Oh, wow. Did everybody hear that? Mark just discovered dirt.
…
Sanders: At around 4:30 a.m. Central Standard Time our satellites detected a storm approaching the Ares 3 mission site on Mars. At 6:45, the storm had escalated to severe and we had no choice but to abort the mission. Thanks to the quick action of Commander Lewis astronauts Beck, Johanssen, Martinez and Vogel were all able to reach the Mars Ascent Vehicle and perform an emergency launch at 7:28 Central Time. Unfortunately, during the evacuation astronaut Mark Watney was struck by debris and killed.[/b]
Or, sure, maybe not…
[b]Mark [recording a message]: Hello, this is Mark Watney, astronaut. I’m entering this log for the record in case I don’t make it. It is 06:53 on Sol 19 and I’m alive. Obviously. But I’m guessing that’s gonna come as a surprise to my crewmates and to NASA.
…
Mark [recording a message]: I have no way to contact NASA. And even if I could, it’s gonna be four years until a manned mission can reach me. And I’m in a Hab designed to last 31 days. If the oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the water reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the hab breaches, I’ll just kind of implode. If none of those things happen, I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death.
…
Mark [recording a message]: Right, let’s do the math. Our surface mission here was supposed to last 31 sols. For redundancy, they sent 68 sols worth of food. That’s for 6 people. So for just me, that’s gonna last 300 sols… which I figure I can stretch to 400 if I ration. So I got to figure out a way to grow three years’ worth of food here. On a planet where nothing grows.
…
Mark [recording a message]: The problem is water. I have created 126 square meters of soil. But every cubic meter of soil requires 40 liters of water to be farmable. So I gotta make a lot more water.
…
Mark: So, yeah, I blew myself up. Best guess…I forgot to account for the excess oxygen that I’ve been exhaling when I did my calculations. Because I’m stupid.
…
Sanders: It’s not about the satellite time, Vince. We’re a public domain organization. We need to be transparent on this. The second we point the satellites at the Hab…I broadcast pictures of Mark Watney’s dead body to the world.
Vincent: You’re afraid of a PR problem?
Sanders: Of course I’m afraid of a PR problem.
Vincent: Another mission?
Sanders: Congress won’t reimburse us for a paper clip if I put a dead astronaut on the front page of The Washington Post.
…
Annie: I mean, what are we gonna say, “Dear America, remember that astronaut we killed and had a really nice funeral for? Turns out he’s alive and we left him on Mars. Our bad. Sincerely, NASA”. I mean, do you realize the shit storm that is about to hit us?
…
Sanders: If my math is right, he’s going to starve to death long before we can help him.
Vincent: Can you imagine what he’s going through up there? He’s 50 million miles away from home. He thinks he’s totally alone. He thinks we gave up on him. What does that do to a man, psychologically? What the hell is he thinking right now?[/b]
This: Fuck Disco!
[b]Mark [recording]: In the face of overwhelming odds, I’m left with only one option, I’m gonna have to science the shit out of this.
…
Mark [to the camera]: So here’s the rub. Somehow we have to have complex astrophysical engineering conversations using nothing but a still-frame camera from 1996. Luckily the camera does spin. So I can make an alphabet. It can’t be our alphabet. 26 characters plus a question card into 360 gives us 13 degrees of arc. That’s way too narrow. I’d never know what the camera was pointing at. Hexadecimals. Hexadecimals to the rescue.[/b]
Got that? You either have more than just a remoste understanding of the science here or you don’t.
[b]Mark [typing]: “How’s the crew? What did they say when they found out I was alive?”
Ng: Just tell him.
Vincent [typing]: “We haven’t told the crew you are alive yet. We need them to concentrate on their mission.”
Mark [aloud to himself]: What the fuck? What the fuck?
Mark [typing] “They don’t know I’m alive? What the fuck? WEhat the fuck is wrong with you?”
Vincent [typing]: “Mark, please watch your language. Everything you type is being broadcast live all over the world.”
…
Annie [to Vincent]: What is he doing? I asked for a photo, and what, he’s The Fonz?
…
Martinez [communicating – faceteously – to Mark]: “Dear Mark…Apparently NASA’s letting us talk to you now. And I drew the short straw. Sorry we left you behind on Mars. But we just don’t like you. Also, it’s a lot roomier on the Hermes without you. We have to take turns doing your tasks. But, I mean, it’s only botany. It’s not real science.”
…
Ng: All right. Thanks to my uncle Tommy in China, we get another chance at this.
…
Melissa: This is something NASA expressly rejected. We’re talking about mutiny here, which is not a word that I take lightly. So we do this together or not at all. And before you answer, consider the consequences. If we mess up the supply rendezvous, we die. If we mess up the Earth gravity assist, we die. If we do everything perfectly we add 533 days to our mission. 533 more days before we see our families again. 533 days of unplanned space travel where anything could go wrong. If it’s mission critical, we die.[/b]
Time to consult the script. You know, to see if the heroes survive.
[b]Flight: Who the hell is Rich Purnell?
Beth: I dunno.
Flight: Will somebody find out who the hell Rich Purnell is?
…
[b]Mitch: Whoever gave them the maneuver only passed along information. Crew made the decision on their own.
Sanders: You may have killed them, Mitch. We’re fighting the same war. Every time something goes wrong, the world forgets why we fly. I’m trying to keep us airborne. It’s bigger than one person.
Mitch: No. It’s not.
Sanders: When this is over, I’ll expect your resignation.
…
Mark [recording]: So, I’ve got 200 sols to figure out how to take everything here that’s keeping me alive the oxygenator, the water reclaimer, the atmospheric regulator bring that all with me. And luckily, I have the greatest mindson Planet Earth really, all of the brainpower on the entire planet helping me with this endeavor. And so far they’ve come up with is “Hey, why don’t you drill holes on the roof of your Rover and hit it as hard as you can with a rock?”
…
Mark [recording]: I’ve been thinking about laws on Mars. There’s an international treaty saying that no country can lay claim to anything that’s not on Earth. By another treaty if you’re not in any country’s territory, maritime law aplies. So Mars is international waters. Now, NASA is an American non-military organization, it owns the Hab. But the second I walk outside I’m in international waters. So Here’s the cool part. I’m about to leave for the Schiaparelli Crater where I’m going to commandeer the Ares IV lander. Nobody explicitly gave me permission to do this, and they can’t until I’m on board the Ares IV. So I’m going to be taking a craft over in international waters without permission, which by definition makes me a pirate. Mark Watney…space pirate.
…
Mark [recording]: Everywhere I go, I’m the first. It’s a strange feeling. Step outside the Rover…first guy to be there. Climb that hill, first guy to do that. Four and a half billion years nobody here. And now, me. I’m the first person to be alone on an entire planet.
…
Vincent: You want to send a man into space without the front of his ship?
Ng: Well, no. We’re gonna have him cover it with Hab canvas. Look, the hull’s mostly there to keep the air in.Mars’ atmosphere is so thin, you don’t need a lot of streamlining. By the time the ship’s going fast enough for air resistance to matter it’ll be high enough that there’s practically no air.
Vincent: You wanna send him into space under a tarp.
Ng: Yes.
…
Mark [recording, after hearing he has to take the top off of the Mars Ascent Vehicle]: I know what they’re doing. I know exactly what they’re doing. They just keep repeating “go faster than any man in the history of space travel”, like that’s a good thing. Like it’ll distract me from how insane their plan is. Yeah, I get to go faster than any man in the history of space travel, because you’re launching me in a convertible. Actually it’s worse than that, because I won’t even be able to control the thing. And by the way, physicists, when describing things like acceleration do not use the word “fast”. So they’re only doing that in the hopes that I won’t raise any objections to this lunacy, because I like the way “fastest man in the history of space travel” sounds. I do like the way it sounds… I mean, I like it a lot.
[pauses]
Mark: But I’m not gonna tell them that.
…
Beth: If something goes wrong, what can Mission Control do?
Vincent: Not a damn thing. It’s all happening 12 light-minutes away which means it takes 24 minutes for them to get the answer to any question they ask. The whole launch is 12 minutes so they’re on their own.
…
Mark: Commander…I can’t let you go through with this. I am prepared to cut the suit.
Melissa: Absolutely not.
Mark: See, the thing is, I’m selfish. I want all the memorials back home to be about me. Just me.
Melissa: I should have left this guy on Mars.
…
Mark [to the cadets]: Welcome to the Astronaut Candidate Program. Now pay attention, because this could save your life. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.
…
Mark [to the cadets]: Alright, let me get a few things out of the way, right off the bat. Yes, I did in fact survive on a deserted planet by farming in my own shit. Yes, it’s actually worse than it sound. So, let’s not talk about that ever again.
…
Mark: Every human being has a basic instinct: to help each other out. If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it’s found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don’t care, but they’re massively outnumbered by the people who do.[/b]