The Martian

Trailer

The Martian is a 2015 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Matt Damon. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir and adapted into a screenplay by Drew Goddard. Damon plays an astronaut who is thought to be dead and left behind on Mars. The film is about his struggles to survive and everyone’s efforts to save him.

The Martian Plot Summary

The Ares III Mars mission crew is exploring the Acidalia Planitia Plain on the 18th Martian day of their 31-day journey. A dust storm forced them to return to the Hermes orbiter. During the return trip, astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is struck by debris and is lost in a storm; Telemetry measurements via the spacesuit showed no signs of life. Along with others in the battle, team leader Melissa Lewis made a request to depart the Mars Ascent Vessel (MAV) without him.

Watney is awakened after the storm by a signal that he is running out of oxygen, and makes his way back to “Hab”, the crew’s base on Mars. He removed the antenna piece from the body and the life detector, which had caused inaccurate life detection, and began recording his diary. He realized his only chance of survival was when the Ares IV ship arrived at the Schiaparelli crater, about 3235 km away, within 4 years. After calculating that the remaining food is only enough for 300 Martian days (about 309 Earth days), Watney, a botanist, creates a garden with Martian soil that has been fertilized with waste in his feet. no, water is produced by separating hydrogen from leftover rocket fuel and oxidizing it with fire, and the potato is kept for Easter. He also began repairing the only working rover (used for space exploration) to travel on Mars.

Examining satellite images of Mars, mission commander Vincent Kapoor and satellite planner Mindy Park realized Watney had survived. Despite protests from flight commander Mitch Henderson, NASA manager Teddy Sanders decided not to announce this to the Ares III crew, thinking that this news would distract them from their mission.

Watney used the rover to retrieve the Pathfinder unmanned probe, which had been silent since 1997. Using the rover’s cameras, he established a connection with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). NASA instructed Watney to connect the rover to Pathfinder so they could communicate via text message. Watney was angry to learn that the crew was unaware of his survival, and Sanders assigned Henderson to inform them.

Henderson and the JPL director devise a plan to send the Space Probe to Mars and provide Watney with enough food to survive until the Ares IV arrives. But when the Hab’s airlock was violently decompressed, Sanders ordered the crew to speed up the supply mission by bypassing all safety checks. The supply ship exploded after takeoff.

The China National Space Control Station has proposed to NASA Taiyang Shen, a validated machine that can carry packages to Mars. Meanwhile, JPL space dynamicist Rich Purnell identified a firing line to get Hermes to Mars faster, using a Chinese launcher instead of re-supplying it with food for 18 months. Sanders disagreed with the plan, refusing to risk the crew, but Henderson secretly sent details of the plan to Hermes. Lewis and his crew agreed to use the plan, and NASA – unable to stop them – proceeded with resupply while Hermes flew to Mars.

After 461 Martian days, Watney began a 90-day journey to Schiaparelli Crater, where the Ares IV mission’s MAV landed. To meet Hermes flying by, Watney must reduce its weight, removing equipment including the porthole, bow, and hull. With Watney on board the destroyed MAV, the Hermes crew controlled it remotely, but the speed and distance were not as expected. Hermes tried to change speed and reduce pressure to adjust the speed. Lewis used the Manual Control, powered by nitrogen, to reach Watney’s ship but could not reach him. Watney pricks the spacesuit’s bug and uses the escaping gas to propel himself toward Lewis. The crew reunited and crowds around the world cheered.

After returning to Earth, Watney begins a new job, providing survival guidance for future astronauts. Five years later, at the start of the Ares V mission, the people involved in rescuing Watney have all returned to life or started new lives.