The Martian

[kamaz]

Started reading yesterday, finished today. Seriously, this book is good.

Also it appears that there is a movie in the works.

Director: Ridley Scott
Lead role: Matt Damon
Release: 25 Nov 2015

 

[Andy44]

Preparing to purchase now...

 

[kamaz]

Nice image! But, if I remember correctly, Hermes spun so that it would create 1G on the bit of the habitation module closest to the walls, but since it doesn't have a wheel or anything sticking out, it looks like it would have to spin really fast.

The impression I got from the book was that it was 0.4g, the idea being that you keep the crew in Mars gravity the whole time. The book I think says explicitly the idea was that the crew should be able to walk when they get to Mars, not when they get back. In fact moving people from 0.4g Mars to 1g spacecraft on the trip back would be pretty dumb...

Also, the spacecraft uses NEP/VASIMR instead of NTRs because it was supposed to be used for the whole length of the program (6 return trips), and VASIMR does not need much propellant (compared to NTRs).

 

[Pipcard]

Teaser:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8WIzEHxKAA"]Ridley Scott's THE MARTIAN Viral Trailer (Science Fiction - 2015) - YouTube[/ame]

(haven't read the book yet but I'm looking forward to this movie.)

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Teaser:

Ridley Scott's THE MARTIAN Viral Trailer (Science Fiction - 2015) - YouTube

(haven't read the book yet but I'm looking forward to this movie.)

As with any movie adaption from a book: READ THE BOOK FIRST. The movie will NEVER be as good as the book.

 

[Quick_Nick]

As I understand it this is the actual source (Other YouTube channels don't deserve views):

 

[Andy44]

As with any movie adaption from a book: READ THE BOOK FIRST. The movie will NEVER be as good as the book.

No, that means watch the movie first, so you won't be one of those insufferable types who constantly whines about how the movie sucks because it's not exactly like the book.

For example, I never actually read Hitchhiker's Guide, and I liked the movie.

Those who read the book hated it. And they hate me for being dumb enough to like it.

Joke's on them, I was entertained and didn't waste hours on a book!
But seriously I will get around to finishing it some day....

 

[Unstung]

I hope the actual movie does not have any social media posts and crew facts pop up on the screen. They're distracting, and the Twitter-esque posts will make the movie dated instantly.

The movie should let audience see the characters' backgrounds of the rather than lazily cluttering the screen with "crew facts". It's bad exposition.

 

[Pipcard]

I think the social media pop-ups were just for this video, which was supposed to be a fictional "live" stream of the crew before leaving Earth orbit.

How long will Twitter (I have never had an account, as I have never found a use for it) and the whole #hashtags thing keep going on?

 

[fsci123]

Anybody examine the spaceship? Seems to be nuclear thermal...had the aft radiators for that but also had solar panels.........as if they couldn't settle on nuclear thermal or solar electric.

How long will Twitter (I have never had an account, as I have never found a use for it) and the whole #hashtags thing keep going on?

The Twitter hashtags will probably be around for another 8 years.

 

[Codz]

I hope the actual movie does not have any social media posts and crew facts pop up on the screen. They're distracting, and the Twitter-esque posts will make the movie dated instantly.

The movie should let audience see the characters' backgrounds of the rather than lazily cluttering the screen with "crew facts". It's bad exposition.

Think it was supposed to be a mock Periscope/Twitter thing for the purposes of the trailer.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Anybody examine the spaceship? Seems to be nuclear thermal...had the aft radiators for that but also had solar panels.........as if they couldn't settle on nuclear thermal or solar electric.




The Twitter hashtags will probably be around for another 8 years.

Book had it as a nuclear electric propulsion.

 

[Frilock]

Interstellar kind of ruined Matt Damon as an astronaut for me.

 

[Nicholander]

Book had it as a nuclear electric propulsion.

No, in the book the Hermes used ion engines, or is that what you mean by "nuclear electric" propulsion?


I'm a bit confused by the layout (Kind of) of the Hermes in that trailer. Where are they in the ship? Since the floor isn't curved they aren't in the centrifuge, but they walk around normally like they're in gravity. Are they trying to do the same thing 2001 did with Velcro all over the ship and the astronauts wearing Velcro shoes? (And if they are, they still shouldn't be walking around exactly like on Earth.)


By the way, in the first opening scene where you can see the Hermes, why at the front of the ship is the presumably command section (With the windows facing forward and they module sticking out from it.) offset from the centerline? Is it to counteract something from another part of the spacecraft?


Okay, sorry for being nitpicky, but little incorrect details like those just really annoy me...


EDIT:
Trailer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4PCI0NamI
(I can't figure out how to insert videos, so just click on the link.)

 

[fsci123]

NASA appears to have gotten a huge budget boost...
Sandstorms have gotten stronger...

Everything seems to have gotten more extreme in this movie.

Hopefully they put some electronic in there...maybe da rude sandstorm during the dust storm sequence.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

No, in the book the Hermes used ion engines, or is that what you mean by "nuclear electric" propulsion?


I'm a bit confused by the layout (Kind of) of the Hermes in that trailer. Where are they in the ship? Since the floor isn't curved they aren't in the centrifuge, but they walk around normally like they're in gravity. Are they trying to do the same thing 2001 did with Velcro all over the ship and the astronauts wearing Velcro shoes? (And if they are, they still shouldn't be walking around exactly like on Earth.)


By the way, in the first opening scene where you can see the Hermes, why at the front of the ship is the presumably command section (With the windows facing forward and they module sticking out from it.) offset from the centerline? Is it to counteract something from another part of the spacecraft?


Okay, sorry for being nitpicky, but little incorrect details like those just really annoy me...


EDIT:
Trailer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4PCI0NamI
(I can't figure out how to insert videos, so just click on the link.)

Nuclear electric means that you use a nuclear reactor to turn a generator, which powers an electric engine of some sort: Ion, Hall Effect, VASIMR, etc.

 

[Pipcard]

EDIT:
Trailer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4PCI0NamI
(I can't figure out how to insert videos, so just click on the link.)

It doesn't embed if the link has https, just put http.

 

[Hlynkacg]

In regards the the propulsion system this is the official line from the author's blog...

Hermes is powered by ion engines. They throw argon out the back of the ship really fast to get a tiny amount of acceleration. The thing is, it doesn’t take much reactant mass, so a little argon (and a nuclear reactor to power things) let us accelerate constantly the whole way there.

and for those wondering how Damon's character got left behind, here is the pertinent quote from the first chapter...

Checking out my suit, I saw the antenna had plowed through my bio-monitor computer. When on an EVA, all the crew’s suits are networked so we can see each other’s status. The rest of the crew would have seen the pressure in my suit drop, followed immediately by my bio-signs going flat. Add that to watching me tumble down a hill in the middle of a sandstorm...

Yeah, They thought I was dead. How could they not?

 

[Ghostrider]

The Twitter hashtags will probably be around for another 8 years.

Years? Years are so, like, half a Planck time ago, dude.:lol:

 

[Pipcard]

Will Elon Musk reveal his Mars colonization plans at around the same time as this movie is released?