Blog #23: Astronomy + X = The Martian

This past month, I went to see the critically acclaimed film, The Martian. I was absolutely. blown. away (just like Mark Watney). I think this is the best film, bar none, that I have ever seen. It meshes the fields of science fiction, and actual science, in a way that it brings the literal future of human space travel at the forefront of American cinema.

The plot of the movie was very straight forward. 6 astronauts were on the Ares IV manned mission to Mars. A dust storm hit the crew, which caused Mark Watney, a botanist, to be impaled by a satellite dish and flown away from his crew members. The crew received a signal from Watney's suit saying he died, and the crew boarded the Hermes spacecraft and left without him. However, it turns out that the Mark Watney was still alive. The rest of the story is about how Watney tries to survive on a barren planet by growing his own food, communicating with NASA through the decommissioned Pathfinder mission, and eventually preparing to leave Mars. Along the way, the harsh Martian environment hampers his plans and make it nearly impossible for Watney to survive.

The first images of the Martian
surface taken by Mariner 4 in 1965.

Images by the Mariner 9 taken in 1971
that shocked the world to see craters
 and valleys on the Martian surface

This movie, directed by Ridley Scott, was based on the novel written by Andy Weir. The movie cast worked with NASA to get the most accurate description of human space flight and the conditions on Mars that are known at by scientists at the present time. As a result, in the opening scenes of this movie, we see breathtaking panoramas of the surface of Mars, with its many mountains, it's red atmosphere, and it's planetary bone-dry desert. It is worth noting how in just the opening scene of this movie, the intersection of science and filmmaking has brought all the discoveries found on Mars in the last half-century to everyday moviegoers. Just think about it... the first pictures of the surface of Mars were taken by the Mariner 4 in 1965 that were nothing more than a grainy, grayscale image.

First color photo taken on the
surface of Mars by Spirit in 2003

6 years later, the Mariner 9 mission in 1971 shocked the scientific community when they discovered that Mars had craters and valleys. Fast forwarding to 2003, the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, took the first high definition colored photos from the surface of Mars that showed Mars' rugged surface in detail. Finally, right now, the Mars Science Laboratory, known as Curiosity, has sent back high def photos of Mars that show the same level of detail that was seen in the movie, The Martian. In fact, when looking at the pictures of Mars taken from Curiosity and those depicted in The Martian, the similarities are uncanny.

Images from Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity

Images of the surface of Mars depicted in The Martian.

Just by comparing what we know now about Mars and having it depicted accurately on the big screen, the average person now knows more about the Martian surface than most scientists did even 20-30 years ago.

The other amazing feat that the Martian was able to pull off was that all the science explained in the movie was actual science, including the technologies being used in the movie. Every technology used in The Martian was the technology we currently have to take people to Mars, so no technology was fabricated.

So that begs the question, if the technology in the movie was real, and the surface of Mars was depicted as scientifically accurate, is it even fair to call this movie science fiction? Well that dust storm in the beginning of the movie was probably the most unrealistic aspect of the whole movie, since Mars doesn't have an atmosphere thick enough to sustain such forceful winds. However, it is very much possible for people to go to Mars, right now, if given enough funding to build everything necessary to send a manned mission. This film gave NASA and the scientific community the public relations boost it needed to re-ignite the interest in space travel to average population. Right now, NASA just started recruiting the next generation of astronauts, because a real manned mission to Mars is being planned for the 2030's. Hopefully in the real manned missions, NASA doesn't leave anyone behind, and if they do, at least that astronaut has a decent shot at survival if they simply watch The Martian.