Science in the Movies: The Martian
Introduction
The Martian is a 2015 sci-fi film adaptation of the 2011 novel The Martian by Andy Weir. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film stars Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, and Jeff Daniels. The movie is centered on astronaut Mark Watney, who is abandoned on Mars when his crew blasts off during a fierce sandstorm. With only sparse supplies, technical skills, and a will to live, Watney works tirelessly to survive on the hostile Red Planet. Upon finding out Watney is not dead, NASA devises a plan to rescue Watney. Concurrently, his crewmates execute one of their own; this plan, while far from safe, successfully brings Watney home.
Methods
The scientific disciplines of botany, astronomy, chemistry, computer science, physics, mechanical and aeronautical engineering are explored in Watney’s survival efforts and the plans devised to rescue him. In that world, space technology has advanced so that a crewed exploration mission is successfully made to Mars on a spacecraft propelled by nuclear-powered ion engines. After Watney is left behind, a potato garden is cultivated with Martian soil fertilized by human waste and water generated by burning hydrazine fuel. Visual contact with NASA is established through the reverse-engineering of the camera and motor of the old Pathfinder probe; text-based communication is also set up by a NASA software patch that linked Watney’s rover to Pathfinder. NASA’s first cargo probe disintegrated shortly after its launch, fraught with design failures; the second is an engineering challenge, as it had to be designed to endure a high-speed crash landing on the Martian surface. An alternative plan is devised that utilizes a gravity assist maneuver, which would set the trajectory of the crew’s vessel towards Mars to rescue Watney. In the execution of this plan, a mismatch in the speeds of Hermes and Watney’s vessel necessitated the use of an improvised oxyliquit bomb, consisting of mixture of liquid oxygen and sugar, to blow a hole in Hermes front airlock, slowing the vessel down enough to rescue Watney.
Results
The approach of The Martian to science and technology is in some ways realistic, and in others infeasible or just impossible. The Hermes‘ nuclear electric propulsion system, which propels the spacecraft to and from Mars, is actually one of the systems NASA plans on using for cargo flights and crewed missions to Mars (Brown, 2022). While still in the early stages of development, such a system is slated to be ready for use by the 2030s, which is when the human mission occurs in the film. Watney’s use of hydrazine to generate water is entirely functional, as the burning of hydrazine produces H2, which binds with oxygen in the air to produce water. The gravitational slingshot, the central piece of the alternative rescue plan, is a real and effective maneuver, used by the first Apollo lunar crews to ensure “a free ride home if their engine failed as they were approaching the moon”, and regularly in interplanetary explorations by unmanned probes (Kluger, 2021).
While the movie is accurate in those ways, it’s erroneous in many significant others. The principal plot device of the movie, the windstorm that causes Watney to be abandoned, never actually occurs on Mars. Storms must have wind speeds of 55 – 63 mph to result in ‘considerable structural damage’; on a plant with 1% the atmospheric density of Earth, this equates to speeds of 550+ mph (Stranded on Mars: The Science Behind the Martian, 2018). Given that the max wind speed on Mars is 60 mph, it is impossible for there to have been a windstorm as intense as the one seen in the film (The Fact and Fiction of Martian Dust Storms, 2015). Food also could not have grown under the circumstances outlined in the film; soil samples from Mars have indicated that the Martian surface has relatively high concentrations of perchlorates, toxic chemicals that make the soil unable to sustain most plants, including Watney’s potatoes (Carlisle, 2020).
Discussion
The Martian demonstrates the power of ingenuity, perseverance, and faith in one’s self in defeating challenges of life. Watney, in his speech to astronaut candidates, speaks on this:
At some point, everything’s gonna go south on you… everything’s going to go south and you’re going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem… and you solve the next one… and then the next. And If you solve enough problems, you get to come home.
The movie uses being stranded on Mars to convey its message because of how nightmarish a situation it is. Having to fend for themself on an inhospitable planet millions of miles from Earth, with no knowledge of a rescue timeline is terrifying; many would not have the will to fight to live another day, let alone several years. Therefore, showing a man successfully contending for survival with the odds stacked against him in such a manner effectively communicates the awesome capability of the human mind to achieve its desire. Viewers are informed of not only the perils that await humanity in its space exploration endeavors, but also of the ability of the indomitable human spirit to overcome them all.
Literature Cited
Brown, D. W. (2022, January 27). NASA’s ‘Nuclear Option’ May Be Crucial for Getting Humans to Mars. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasas-nuclear-option-may-be-crucial-for-getting-humans-to-mars/
Carlisle, C. M. (2020, February 26). Some Plants Grow Well in Martian Soil. Sky & Telescope. https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/some-plants-grow-well-in-martian-soil/
Kluger, J. (2021, April 29). What The Martian Gets Right (and Wrong) About Science. Time. https://time.com/4055413/martian-movie-review-science-accuracy-matt-damon/
Stranded on Mars: The science behind The Martian. (2018, February 26). Science Buffs. https://sciencebuffs.org/2018/02/26/stranded-on-mars-the-science-behind-the-martian/
The Fact and Fiction of Martian Dust Storms. (2015, September 18). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/the-fact-and-fiction-of-martian-dust-storms
Sciences in the Movies_ The Martian
(The link for the slides is the phrase directly above)
