FILM 1466: THE MARTIAN
TRIVIA: The Mars exteriors were
shot in Wadi Rum, Jordan, which has a red colored desert. Another Mars mission
film, Red Planet (2000), was
shot there.
The writer of the novel, Andy Weir, first published
his book for free on his own blog for fun. Then people asked him to put it in a
downloadable form, then to put it on Amazon for Kindle download which he did at
the then minimum price of $0.99.
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.
The name of the mission is Ares 3,
a homage to the Greek god of war, Ares, whose Roman name is Mars. The name of
the large ship traveling back and forth between Earth and Mars is Hermes, named
after the Greek god who was the messenger and emissary. Hermes was seen as the
patron and protector of travelers.
In the novel, Mark Watney has two
Masters degrees, one in botany and one in mechanical engineering. In the film,
however, he has a PhD in botany and no engineering background is mentioned,
although he is shown to have a knowledge of engineering and maintenance of the
mission equipment.
Drew Goddard, who wrote
the screenplay for the film, was also at one point set to direct, but left that
role to go direct The Sinister
Six film. After that, Ridley Scott
read the script and jumped into the project, rather than making a Prometheus (2012) sequel.
Author Andy Weir originally wrote
the novel as a serial on his blog. Writing in this serialized approach allowed
him to build the story as he went, essentially crafting each plot point around
something that could go wrong, and then working out how Mark would get around
it. Weir noted that he could not figure his way around failure of the crucial
life support systems, so if the oxygenator, water reclaimer, or RTG failed,
Mark would have died.
Here's what Mars is like, according
to NASA:
Mars has a reddish-orange glow
during the day from all the dust.
Sunrises and sunsets appear blue
because Mars has almost no atmosphere.
One day or "sol" on Mars
is about 37 minutes longer than an Earth day. The natural human circadian
rhythm (or sleep-wake cycle) is about 24 hours and 11 minutes, but experiments
have shown that humans have no problems adapting to cycles varying from 23
hours 30 minutes to 24 hours 36 minutes; so humans would not experience major
disruptions of their biological clock on Mars.
One Martian year is nearly two
Earth years. That's because Mars orbits the Sun much farther away than Earth,
so it takes a lot longer for the red planet to complete one lap.
The average surface temperature on
Mars is a chilly minus-80 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 62 degrees Celsius). But
temperatures can swing from a low of about minus-195 degrees Fahrenheit
(minus-126 degrees Celsius) in winter, to a comfortable 68 degrees Fahrenheit
(20 degrees Celsius) during the summer.
Gravity on Mars is only about 40%
that of Earth's, so a person would be 60% lighter (but not Moon-bouncing
light).
Mars has barely any atmosphere -
about 1% of the density of the cozy atmospheric blanket around Earth. That's
not enough to protect the surface from dangerous space radiation.
The "steely-eye missile
man" is a reference to flight controller John Aaron's actions following
two lightning strikes to the Apollo 12 rocket in its first minute after
liftoff. The electrical surge caused numerous problems in the telemetry system
of the craft, which if unresolved would force a mission abort. Aaron recognized
the telemetry problem as similar to one seen in testing a year before, and
advised that the crew to switch the Signal Conditioning Electronics (SCE)
system to the auxiliary position. This control was so obscure that neither the
Capsule Commander, nor the Mission Commander knew what, or even where it was,
but pilot Alan Bean did, following Aaron's advice. Altering the setting
immediately fixed the problem, allowing the mission to continue. Aaron's quick,
calm, and effective response to the crisis earned him the appellation, widely
considered to be the highest praise possible within NASA. This can also be a
reference to the 1995 movie Apollo 13.
Matt Damon has been
nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his
performance in this film. This makes him the only nominee in the Best Actor
category of the 84th Academy Awards who was nominated for playing a fictional character.
All the other Best Actor nominees were nominated for playing historical
figures.
