Jared Muir

PHYS 1040
Mr. Barnes
April 4, 2016
Option #2 SciFi Critique
During this signature assignment I will be discussing with you the
movie The Martian. I personally found this movie quite interesting and the
data behind it was just as fascinating. In The Martian a team is dropped off
on Mars to collect data and do research on the environment gathering as
much data as possible. During their mission a massive sandstorm hits the
team and they attempt to return to their ship in order to safely leave the
surface to return to their space station. There was a turn for the worst when
one of the team mates is lost and thought to be dead. For the rest of the film
it is a matter of returning him back home safely once he makes
communication back to NASA.
Further I am going to be discussing a few events within the film which
either do or do not make sense. Through gathered research we will find out
whether or not these events are logical. First we will go through Watneys
the main character survival with his food supply and whether or not it is
possible to grow anything on Mars. Secondly we will discuss Watney taking
off from Mars in order to reach the space station, is the movie depiction

possible? And finally we will be going over how Watney makes

communication with Earth although a dust storm took out his communication
devices.
When the dust storm hits Watney loses all of his food supply and must
survive. He decides to conjure up his excrement, left over water, and soil
from the surface of Mars. According to NASA and experiments tested the
soil on Mars actually does have the nutrients plants would need to survive on
Mars! There may not be the right amount of nutrients depending on where
astronauts land on the Red Planet, so fertilizers may need to be added to the
soil. The fertilizers used in The Martian are his feces.
Although the soil is fertile how could he create an ecosystem to keep
the plants alive and watered? In the movie he takes a clear tarp and
essentially bubbles in the soil and plants which creates a greenhouse within
his left over station. Watneys greenhouse system is not ventilated,
temperature controlled, or anything fancy by those terms. Although if
Watney could gain enough water and heat for his small ecosystem it would
be possible. In conclusion the idea of growing food in the movie is possible,
but very challenging.
Spoiler Alert When Watney is on his way home he must launch to the
space station from the surface of Mars using his supplies located at another
station on Mars. What he does is go to a future launch site with a fueled
rocket but just enough fuel to not quite make it. He then must accelerate to

an orbital velocity which would allow him to dock with the passing space
station. As of right now one of NASAs largest issues is how they can get a
man back to Earth or a space station by launching them from Mars. Currently
they do not know exactly the logistics of taking off from Mars and everything
unknown which follows. Along with that Mars has 30% of Earths gravity with
barley an atmosphere.
In the movie when he launches he has to reduce as much weight as
possible so he takes apart everything except essentials to get him up; he
even took out the front windows. Even if that were possible to survive
Watney must then connect with the space station in which he misses
trajectory so he rips his suit to create an opposing velocity to reduce
spinning and get to the station. Is this all possible? No, it is false.
Last we will be going over Mark Watneys communication and how he
comes into contact with NASA. When the dust storm hit and he was left they
also took all his current sources of communication with Earth, so how does
he reach them? In the movie Watney finds a pilfer Pathfinder and Sojourner
which is the lander and rover which landed in 1997. They both went silent
just a few months after they touched so would it really be possible to use
them in order to contact Earth?
According to Dave Lavery, who led the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration for Telerobotics Technology Development Program, says
theoretically it is possible. The spacecraft has been sitting up there since

1997, and it stopped operating because the batteries finally drained and
gave out. But if you replaced them and repowered it, everything else should
still be functioning. Watney does recharge the batteries by a solar panel
which he lets charge up and then send picture messages to Earth and
although it takes the messages around 3 to 23 minutes to send. Essentially if
the conditions are right then yes, communication with Earth by these means
are possible.
In conclusion we talked about three ideas associated with the movie
The Martian and whether or not what Mark Watney did was possible. First
we talked about Watney growing potatoes by creating a small ecosystem,
through research it was discovered that although it is challenging it is also
possible. Secondly we went over if it is possible for Watney to relaunch from
the surface of Mars back to the space station which we concluded was not
possible. Finally we went over the communication of Watney to Earth through
the rover he found and recharged which theoretically is possible. It is said
that The Martian is currently one of the most realistic SciFi movies, even
though there are some fallacies.

Works Cited
Ghose, B. T. (2015, October 09). 'The Martian': What Would It Take to Grow
Food on Mars? Retrieved April 01, 2016, from
http://www.livescience.com/52444-growing-food-on-mars.html

O'Callaghan, J. (2015, September 28). How Accurate Is The Martian? 9 Things

The Movie Got Right And Wrong. Retrieved April 01, 2016, from
http://www.iflscience.com/space/how-accurate-martian-9-things-movie-gotright-and-wrong

Jordan, G. (2015, October 07). Can Plants Grow with Mars Soil? Retrieved
April 01, 2016, from http://www.nasa.gov/feature/can-plants-grow-with-marssoil

U. (2011, November 26). Launch - Mars Science Laboratory. Retrieved April

01, 2016, from http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission/timeline/launch/

Price, D. (n.d.). NASA Robotics - Robotics Alliance Project : Management Site.

Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://robotics.nasa.gov/management.php