In 2035, more than a decade into the future, humans have finally landed on Mars. It is Sol 16 (Martian days) of Ares 3, the third mission out of 5 to the moon. Astronaut Mark Watney is one of the four astronauts sent on the mission, and he is only to take charge if he is the only one left. By the end of the day, he's in command.
A huge dust storm billows up, covering the Hab (a massive tent-like house), which lies in Acidalia Planitia. The wind begins to tip the MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle). This is critical because the MAV is the only way to get home. When it begins to tip too far, NASA aborts the mission and the astronauts leave the Hab in their spacesuits. On the way to the MAV, Watney is hit by a broken section of the communications system, which decompresses his suit. This would all but certainly kill him, and when they can't find his body, the crew has no choice but to leave.
Of course, it wouldn't be an award-winning book if Watney died here. The comms system stuck in his suit and the clotting of his blood protect him from the vacuum of the Martian atmosphere, and he is able to stumble back to the Hab, where he removes the antennae and rests.
The next morning, he takes stock of the supplies he has. The Hab has supplies and filters for 6 people for 31 sols. That means it will last him around 200 sols, with rationing, which won't last him until the next Ares mission in 4 years. However, he remembers that he has potatoes and soil, which were to be used as part of experiments to determine whether plants can be grown on Mars. He discovers that if he can find a way to plant on every section of the Hab, he will be able to survive until the Ares 4 mission arrives. So, he brings in Martian dust, makes it plantable by mixing it with compost, and turns the Hab into a makeshift greenhouse.
Back on Earth, NASA is going through a crisis. This is the first time that someone has died on another planet, and the previous weeks have been a flurry of media, consolations, and analysis. Just as the top brass believe it is all over, a satellite worker at SATCOM sees an image taken of Mars. She realizes that the rover is not where it should be, that the landing struts for the MAV have been dismantled, and concludes that Mark Watney is alive. NASA and the rest of the world launch an all-out effort to get him home alive.
Meanwhile, Watney has successfully managed to grow potatoes and is beginning to think about preparing the 2 rovers for a longer journey. He needs to keep the heater off in order to conserve their small batteries, but doing that also reduces the temperature to the freezing cold of the Martian atmosphere. So, he digs up a radioactive container called the RTG which was originally part of the MAV's fuel plant until the Ares 3 crew arrived. It produces more than enough heat, so much in fact that he has to tear out the insulation on the rover. With this and a few other necessary structures, Watney takes his first road trip on Mars.
NASA is frantically trying to get a capsule together so that they can send food to Watney to last him until Ares 4. When they see where he is headed, they are elated. Mark is going toward the site where the Pathfinder station, the first probe on Mars is situated. He brings it back to Acidalia Planitia and manages to connect it to the Hab power supply, where it boots up and connects with Earth, where NASA has already reassembled the original Pathfinder team at JPL. Together, they find a way to communicate, and all goes well - until the Hab blows up. All of his potatoes die, and NASA's rushed probe fails on launch. Fortunately, the Chinese space administration is willing to give up a project that they have spent years on to donate another booster. NASA has a brief debate over whether they should send the Ares 3 crew to get Watney or send him food. The director decides to try to send food, but the flight director for Ares 3 secretly tells the crew that they can execute a so-called "Rich Purnell Maneuver" to save Watney, and they unanimously decide to do it. NASA has no choice but to send them supplies, and they go to the proposed landing site of Ares 4 at the same time as Mark.
So Mark makes his way to the MAV at the Ares 4 site in Schiaparelli Crater by using solar panels from the Hab to charge his rovers. There, he makes numerous changes to the MAV to make sure it can get up into orbit and meet the Hermes spacecraft. One of these modifications is removing the hull and replacing it with canvas. During launch, it accidentally comes off, and Watney is left hovering, far too low for the Hermes to get to him. They use as much of the thrusters as they can to get to him, but that leaves them traveling far too fast. So, they breach an airlock to slow themselves down. In a tense moment, Beck is just able to reach Watney and bring him home.
No comments:
Post a Comment