The Martian Case Study

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The Martian – Scientific Successes and Failures The Martian starring Matt Damon depicts the horrific situation in which an astronaut is abandoned on the surface of Mars after an impossible storm sent his crew fleeing. While an enthralling story, there are moments when scientific accuracy is thrown out the window. The enormous storm which forced the crew to abandon their mission and the reduced gravity on Mars, were not depicted accurately in The Martian. Other aspects of the move like the necessity, use and number of solar panels used on the surface of Mars appear to be more accurate. The gravity on Mars is equivalent to one third the gravity on Earth (5). This means that if your body and spacesuit weighed 300 pounds, on Mars you would feel …show more content…

They are forced to evacuate after the realization that the storm is too much for their spaceship to withstand. Their pilot fights the gusts of wind to keep the spaceship upright in preparation for launch. During this process, part of the communication system is ripped from their habitat and appears to kill one astronaut. Storms on Mars are dubbed ‘dust devils,’ they routinely kick up dust and redistribute it over Mars’ surface. They may be called giant dust devils, but they would not ever reach a magnitude where they would be threatening the integrity of a parked spaceship (1). Mars’ atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth’s and therefore would not sustain a storm of the magnitude that is depicted in The Martian. The air on Mars is too thin to carry the amount of wind shown in the opening scenes. Even a strong breeze on Mars of 60mph would feel like a light breeze and not be strong enough to push a human over (2). For comparison, this is less than half the speed of hurricane winds on Earth (3). Even if the wind was 100mph on Mars, ‘it would feel like someone was throwing a bag of feathers at you,’ (4). This means that the struggle depicted as the astronauts make their way from the habitat to the spaceship, is overdramatized. The force of the storm ripping the antenna from the habitat would not be feasible. The darkening of the sky and the dust in the …show more content…

(2015). ‘The Martian’ Dust Storm Would Actually Be a Breeze. Space.com. Retrieved from: http://www.space.com/30663-the-martian-dust-storms-a-breeze.html (3) Hille, K. (2015). The Fact and Fiction of Martian Dust Storms. NASA. Retrieved from: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/the-fact-and-fiction-of-martian-dust-storms (4) Dickerson, K. (2015). The Biggest Mistake In ‘The Martian’ Is Absolutely Critical To The Movie’s Plot. Business Insider. Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/dust-storm-strength-the-martian-2015-9 (5) Zubrin, R. (2015). How scientifically accurate is The Martian? The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/06/how-scientifically-accurate-is-the-martian (6) O’Callaghan, J. (2015). How Accurate Is The Martian? 9 Things The Movie Got Right And Wrong. IFLScience. Retrieved from: http://www.iflscience.com/space/how-accurate-martian-9-things-movie-got-right-and-wrong/ (7) Unknown. (2016). Here’s What Matt Damon & NASA Can Teach You About Solar Panels. Alba Energy. Retrieved from:

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