lol this is crazy I can't believe I just watch an hour long video about book I haven't read and the movie I haven't seen. This dude is crazy entertaining, he could do stand-up :)
+UraStr Totally agree with your comments! What a great interview, especially when Andy comments about some scientific inaccuracies in his story and the movie. He does have a bit of a Matt Damon feel to him, doesn't he??! Now need to read the book and see the movie!
When i saw the trailor, it was not at all what i imagined Mark Watney to be like in my head. But now after watching this video Andy is exactly how i saw him. Its crazy, his humour, way of speaking, everything is Watney!
Sooo... he's an incredibly intelligent guy, a software programmer, a stand-up comedian and an awesome writer. I'm in love with Andy Weir even more than after reading the best book of my life.
35:55 YES!!! It KILLED me that they didn't have that Aquaman joke in there! It was SO much better than what they actually used. I guess they did it for copyright purposes? Edit: 36:50 Thank you thank you thank you Andy Weir for not making it a sappy love-interest thing. I didn't miss it. It made the character much more fun and relatable. Thank you for not putting in there a wife and child pining for him at home. The mention of his parents was fantastic, I liked his compassion for them. I am so glad there wasn't any other relationship distracting him, so we could just get down to the fun nitty gritty of survival.
This was really damn funny! The guy walks around like he's won the lottery and is trying his hardest not to tell people about it. His alarm tone is "Everything is awesome" from the Lego movie.
Such an inspiring talk..wow! And you're absolutely right! What I love MOST about this film is that it's technically correct. I'm so tired of Hollywood putting out pseudo science films that give the public a false idea of reality.Trust me..you can never go wrong with the science as long as the story is compelling. Thank you so much!!
This was so entertaining! I absolutely loved the book and the humor of Andy definitely shines through in Mark in his writing and the movie. One of my favorite books!
+Jerald Brewer (JAB) if the book makes you looking forward to see the movie, the movie will make you wanna read the book. saw it at tiff, still want to see it once it's in theater on friday
10:49 wow his attitude is so inspiring... it's really easy to go the "hang my head in shame" route (been there myself) but staying positive and being grateful is such a strength. His books are so life-affirming (as well as awesomely written, fab plots, masses of research and cool adventures) and i can see why :) just read project hail mary 2x through back to back, will probs go and start round 3 in a minute
I love this man! he is the coolest and he is exactly like I imagine Mark Watney to be like if he was real. He is a little cheeky, funny a little nerdy I really like him. Plus, he wrote a book I've read about 4 times. I'm really happy for him that his dream came true like that.
Ok....serioulsy the Aquaman Joke is one of my favorite lines!!!! can't believe is not in the movie! love this guys, love this book, love this video, hope he writes more stuff like this!!!
+Alexandra Mata Same here. It is a crime that they left it out. I haven't read so many hilariously quotable lines since Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide the the Galaxy." If he were alive, I would love to hear him read this book.
It's in one of the Ares 3 Live promos they did prior to the film's release. Not as good as making it into the movie, but it's worth a watch for the giggles :)
I like that fact that the story did not get melodramatic, there are enough sci-fi films out there that are. Part of the appeal for me is that it wasn't an overly serious or emotionally draining movie but matter-of-fact in a way that was entertaining. If he hadn't gone there at all, however, it would've also felt lacking. The one scene where he 'talks' to his parents was enough.
Oh my goodness, I arrive here 5 years later, after having loved both book and movie and... OMG, HE'S HILARIOUS... also Fan Fiction Writers for the WIN!!!
I read this when it was almost free on amazon. Absolutely AMAZING. Haven't seen the movie yet. Can't wait. I owe you a beer Mr Weir! Actually a lot of beer Call me if you're in UK
Andy cited the reason for SpaceX or commercial spaceflight not existing in the book was that SpaceX didn't even have their contract in 2009, when in reality they had been awarded the contract in 2008, along with Orbital Sciences. Too bad he missed that...
+microproductions6 In the book, the only mention of a booster is of one that is powerful enough to get Iris from Earth to Mars with the planets in totally the wrong position. In the Book its a ULA Delta 9 which is already at the Cape. (their only on the Delta 4 Heavy at the minute). The commercial contracts are for LEO only at the time.
He may not have written the line "science the sh*t out of it", as he says to question from audience. But if you read the book, you will find that the protagonist was a delightfully foul-mouthed buy, from the opening line of the book to the end. And so the "science the sh*t out of it" really captures the flavor of the book.
I'm in the process of reading the book right now, and I love it. I do wish that the book had diagrams or other visuals to help explain all the complicated math that goes on in the book. I'm an artist, I learn best with pictures and when I can see everything laid out like a map and how it all connects.
35:00 I've actually been thinking about this. Couldn't you just say that the atmospheric regulator was able to keep the hab at a survivable temperature?
Well, I read the book again and, at one point, Mark says that the hab isn't able to vent out heat but, that seems kind of inconsistent with fire being the worst case scenario so, I just disregard it. Alternatively, if you wanted to stay totally true to the book, Andy has pointed out that the Martian surface is very cold so, Mark could've brought boulders in from outside and used them as heat sinks.
Just finished the book this weekend and it was absolutely fabulous. I am so in love with Mark Watney, lol. I want to marry him!!! I can't wait to see this movie, and I really feel comfortable with Matt Damon playing this character. Good choice after sensing the character in the book. He has a good heart and a hilariously matter of fact sense of humor. Some of his one-liners are choice. "You are cleared for drilling." "That's what she said." Ha! God I LOVE scientists. I swear I will marry a scientist one day ;)
Andy Weir is like George R.R. Martin in that they both seem like dudes you could eat a burger and watch sports with despite them having hundreds of millions of dollars.
He´s really really funny and the book is great. The film, amazingly, is algo great. I guess he is going to have a hard time replicanting this kind of success in his next book. Hope not.
Well, as a scientist, I can say he is right. We are spoiled, picky, brats. I am a geophysicist and love this guy and the book The Martian. Husband and I seeing movie tonight. Can't wait, what fun. He is a boring general officer in the USMC.
The force you experience from wind is a function of velocity squared, so 150 km/hr wind with 0.6% earth atmospheric pressure would be like 11.6 km/hr here on earth instead of 1 km/hr. Just saying....
"The main character is always someone the author wants to be, or someone the author wants to screw. For the record, I want to _be_ Watney." Which brings us to Jazz Bashara...
In honor of the film (which I've seen twice!) While I was shopping yesterday at the whole foods, I purchased a bunch of potatoes! Of course I took one which I did not cook, cut it in half… Took a crap and… (Just kidding about that part :-) and earlier this evening buried the 2 halves of the potato in the ground and watered. It'll be interesting to see what happens. (without taking a **** on it :-)
It seems rather suspicious to me and many others that NASA should choose "NOW" to announce a "breakthrough" discovery of water on Mars to coincide with the showing of "The Martian" movie. Do I smell MONEY?!!!!
+strengthnhope7 Had it occurred to you that NASA has a PR department and these days has to FIGHT for every penny of budget. You can bet your ass they will use every possibility to hype their value in the public mind. Thats how the free market works, you either get with that or fund your public services properly by default. You can't expect to de-fund these things make them fight for budget and then ALSO expect them to not use the tools normal businesses use ever damn day to sell their core value & products.
it's way over time for lomger,absorbimg movies of this mature....both for group thought, scmietific tramimiig mad the gemeral of the populatiom at large!!this om am ethical level ad a survivability,sustaiability level!
The writer of "The Martian," Andy Weir, credits 95% of the science behind the book to the "Mars Direct" mission plan explored in the documentary film: "The Mars Underground" See it here: ruclips.net/video/tcTZvNLL0-w/видео.html
***** Let's calculate. How big or large are the solar panels in the book or movie and how much juice do they deliver? Remember that on Mars, solar energy is 1/20 of Earths and that you have to heat up the greenhouse by 185C. And that heater for 500 sq/m gobbles up A LOT of juice. And then you need light. If you use the latest LEDs, you need a minimum of 100W per m2. That is 50 000W constant draw, just for lighting the potatoes. Judging from the film-stills, the growing room is 3 metres high, so at 1000w minimum, you need 2 million watts or 2 Megawatts to heat them. So just for the LEDs for the potatoes you need a solar panel array that is over 6 kilometres long. If you also want tomatoes, you need more. So to power and heat that habitat one needs, calculating for panel failure, around 200-400 kilometres of 1x1 m 100W solar panels, delivering 5W on Mars. Provided that they are kept squeaky clean and dust free at all times… And that does not power yet any kind of human life support system. Solar panels are pretty much out of the question.
+Ernst Stavro Blofeld How do you calculate the power needed to maintain a temperature in a volume just from the volume? You need to know, in essence the R- value of the plastic plus that of the hab walls, floors and roofs, and their AREA, not their volume. Remember the hab is surrounded by a near vacuum, so It will act almost like a thermos bottle. Also you are adding the lighting budget on top of the heating budget. Nope! Every power using device on the hab will also act like a heater with 100% efficiency. If the heat is the biggest budget item, it is in effect the only item. The hab is already designed to heat the volume, you might want to heat it a little more to increase the yield, but you don't have to have spuds at hothouse temperatures to grow. Would it surprise you If I told you that in Idaho they grow potatoes outside in ambient, which in Idaho averages out to no better than room temperature over the growing season? They don't need full direct sunlight lighting levels 24 1/4 hours a sol, either. Overcast days don't slow down the growth of most crops. As long as there is water, and it it not so chilly that it slows the plant's metabolism, the limiting factor in photosynthesis rate is CO2 level. I don't know if it is mentioned in the book, but the still from the movie shows the central area of each hab module has a skylight. This could be supplemented by artificial lighting 24 1/4 hours a sol. What does the HEIGHT of the hab module have to do with the light level calculation? You have to provide a level of illumination to an AREA not a HEIGHT. You also need to POWER the LEDs not HEAT them. 2 megawatts (your figure) of electricity can power 166,667 over the counter residential LED bulbs, generating 800 lumens each, generating 133,333,333 lumens counting only visible spectrum light (and generating enough heat to heat a multistory office building in a Minnesota winter). Shining on 500 square meters that is 226,667 lumens per square meter or lux. On a clear day with the sun directly overhead at sea level under optimal conditions the sky illuminates the surface at an intensity of only 100,000 lux. That solar figure includes the invisible (and photosynthetically useless) infared and UV. Idaho NEVER gets 100,000 lux and it certainly does not get anywhere near that every day, all day, so even if potatoes needed as much light as they get in Idaho on the average, which they don't, they can't possibly need anywhere near 2 megawatts worth of light all day. Your figures are wrong by more than an order of magnitude. On pg 5 the size of the solar array is specified at 200 square meters. Using typical performance figures for solar panels _currently_ in use by NASA (note that the story takes place in the _future_ so this figure is probably conservative, same for the LED efficiencies above, and I didn't use NASA LEDs above), NASA solar panels get about 400 watts per meter in Earth orbit (they don't buy their solar panels at Home Depot like you do). The intensity of a point source of light diminishes with distance by the inverse square law. The average distance of Earth from the sun is 1.5 X 10E8 meters. The average distance of Mars from the sun is 2.3 X 10E8 meters. So the average intensity of sunlight near Mars is .42 that of Earth. That is about 170 watts per meter for a current NASA solar panel perpendicular to the Sun in the vicinity of Mars. There is no mention of a tracking mount for the panels so I assume most are pointed perpendicular to local zenith noon and just left there. So compensating very conservatively for suboptimal average sun angles and atmospheric attenuation, lets call it 80 watts per meter average output during the day and zero at night. There are storage batteries and such to load balance and we have about 8 kilowatts average over day and night. That's ample for 1 hab supporting 1 astronaut and 1 potato garden, especially with the skylight. Most of the pertinent figures you need to quantify anything you might want to know about an aspect of the mission design or of the expedients Watney improvised to accomplish his goals and meet his needs are in the book. Hard SF doesn't get much harder than this. There is not much in the way of hand waving away technical problems. Weir solved them before Watney did, and shows his work. READ THE BOOK.
+Digital Nomad -- "What does the HEIGHT (=distance) of the hab module have to do with the light level calculation?" "The intensity of a point source of light diminishes with distance by the inverse square law." … are you pulling my leg? So, how many watts to heat up the bloody potato field and habitat from -160 C? That plastic foil they used in the movie as a door does not seem to be very efficient as insulation for an ultra-arctic-station. And don't forget to calculate for the back up system… Remember, "Lights out" = DEATH
+Ernst Stavro Blofeld For an plane array of lights with reflectors behind them flooding an area of floor, the formula for a point source spraying light in every direction, most of which leaves the solar system entirely, does not apply, obviously. Would it surprise you if I told you that the field lights in Idaho go out every night? Watney is the backup system. The whole novel is him making and fixing things. In the case of something trivial like lighting failure, he has (very conservatively) 13 hours to fix it. It does not take watts to heat a mass, it takes watt/hours. It takes watts to maintain temperature against heat loss. The atmospheric pressure on the other side of the hab material averages 600 pascals (0.087 psi), about 0.6% of Earth's mean sea level pressure of 101.3 kilopascals (14.69 psi). Some thermos bottles don't have a vacuum that good. Different values have been reported for the average temperature on Mars, with a common value being −55 °C (218 K; −67 °F). Surface temperatures may reach a high of about 20 °C (293 K; 68 °F) at noon, at the equator, and a low of about −153 °C (120 K; −243 °F) at the poles. I always use conservative figures in my calculations when trying to prove a point. You took the polar winter figure and rounded it down (colder). In the novel he patched the airlock hole with hab fabric, which is as insulative as it needs to be to do the job. The movie has him patching it with something that looks like clear polyethylene (what would that be doing on a Mars base?)... looks tacky. The hab is designed to hold room temperature against Mars ambient at that lattitude. The crew had already set up the hab and heated it before he planted the garden. He patched the hab after the number 3 airlock had blown off, killing the potatoes. He reheated the hab afterward, but not for the garden, just so he could live in it. You really can't critique the novel intelligently till you READ THE BOOK.
Digital Nomad Since the inverse square law is a law of physics, it obviously does apply here very much. So with a three yard ceiling, your 1000 lumen on the ceiling will shine about 2 lumen or rather 2 lux on the floor.
The reason I'm not a famous author: I'd have given Mark an interest to get back to - "Iris." I'd have given flashback scenes with an apparent romantic interest. Then when he returns, we find out Iris was his cat that was in the background of all of the flashback sequences.
Also, I can't help but look at the guy and see Mark Watney in him xD I guess he did a good job with character building!
lol this is crazy I can't believe I just watch an hour long video about book I haven't read and the movie I haven't seen. This dude is crazy entertaining, he could do stand-up :)
+UraStr Exactly. You sould read the book, it contains the same kind of humour. :)
+UraStr Totally agree with your comments! What a great interview, especially when Andy comments about some scientific inaccuracies in his story and the movie. He does have a bit of a Matt Damon feel to him, doesn't he??! Now need to read the book and see the movie!
+UraStr i have to admit i did the same
I've read the book and seen the movie. Both are very good!
+Steve Gritchen So did i
"On the whole, humans are so inherently good and cooperative that it's not notable when they are."
Wow, man!
When i saw the trailor, it was not at all what i imagined Mark Watney to be like in my head. But now after watching this video Andy is exactly how i saw him. Its crazy, his humour, way of speaking, everything is Watney!
Sooo... he's an incredibly intelligent guy, a software programmer, a stand-up comedian and an awesome writer. I'm in love with Andy Weir even more than after reading the best book of my life.
This guy is incredible. I can just sit and listen to him talking about his life for days.
Best presentation by an author I can recall. Well done.
35:55 YES!!! It KILLED me that they didn't have that Aquaman joke in there! It was SO much better than what they actually used.
I guess they did it for copyright purposes?
Edit: 36:50 Thank you thank you thank you Andy Weir for not making it a sappy love-interest thing. I didn't miss it. It made the character much more fun and relatable. Thank you for not putting in there a wife and child pining for him at home. The mention of his parents was fantastic, I liked his compassion for them. I am so glad there wasn't any other relationship distracting him, so we could just get down to the fun nitty gritty of survival.
This was really damn funny!
The guy walks around like he's won the lottery and is trying his hardest not to tell people about it.
His alarm tone is "Everything is awesome" from the Lego movie.
+HalfLucan wait, IS IT?! TIME STAMP, NOW!! XD
+Astrum G2V 39:47 - i died xD
Unless you mean about the Lego movie reference? I'm just making a guess there :')
Such an inspiring talk..wow! And you're absolutely right! What I love MOST about this film is that it's technically correct. I'm so tired of Hollywood putting out pseudo science films that give the public a false idea of reality.Trust me..you can never go wrong with the science as long as the story is compelling. Thank you so much!!
Great story. Glad to see him have such success. Just finished reading it.
This is one of the better crowds he's had.
Lawrence Livermore: Please get rid of that 70's stage carpeting, it's hideous.
+livardo Yes replace it with shag!
+livardo I thought it was supposed to be Martian dirt.
+livardo I liked the carpeting, it kinda looked like he was walking on Mars. :)
What a great speaker. He's amazing and I love hearing the background story of his book and film. I can't wait to see the film before I read the book.
noooo u gotta read it first!! it's so much more magical this way and it's much more fun to actually see it visualized afterwards!
This was so entertaining! I absolutely loved the book and the humor of Andy definitely shines through in Mark in his writing and the movie. One of my favorite books!
Then I bet you really liked Project Hail Mary! (I did)
This guy is a rock star & doesn't even know it. The book is fantastic. If the movie is as good as the Toronto IFF reviews then...whoa!
+Jerald Brewer (JAB) and there is a lot of PR going on these days.
+Cemil Turun You are so right, but this novel & the spirit & the message of it cannot be over-hyped.
+Jerald Brewer (JAB) I agree. I loved the book and look forward to see the film next Friday.
+Jerald Brewer (JAB) if the book makes you looking forward to see the movie, the movie will make you wanna read the book. saw it at tiff, still want to see it once it's in theater on friday
+Jerald Brewer (JAB) It's just pronounced TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival).
I find I like Andy. Thanks for this talk, and insight into the book/movie.
31:52 A FERRIS BUELLER REFERENCE. You are an amazing man.
10:49 wow his attitude is so inspiring... it's really easy to go the "hang my head in shame" route (been there myself) but staying positive and being grateful is such a strength. His books are so life-affirming (as well as awesomely written, fab plots, masses of research and cool adventures) and i can see why :) just read project hail mary 2x through back to back, will probs go and start round 3 in a minute
I can totally see where the humor and the great characterization come from now.
I love this man! he is the coolest and he is exactly like I imagine Mark Watney to be like if he was real. He is a little cheeky, funny a little nerdy I really like him. Plus, he wrote a book I've read about 4 times. I'm really happy for him that his dream came true like that.
Ok....serioulsy the Aquaman Joke is one of my favorite lines!!!! can't believe is not in the movie! love this guys, love this book, love this video, hope he writes more stuff like this!!!
+Alexandra Mata
Same here. It is a crime that they left it out. I haven't read so many hilariously quotable lines since Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide the the Galaxy."
If he were alive, I would love to hear him read this book.
+Alexandra Mata Yeh, but I was really happy that they used the "Space Pirate" joke :D
It's in one of the Ares 3 Live promos they did prior to the film's release. Not as good as making it into the movie, but it's worth a watch for the giggles :)
What's the joke?
+Arc Kocsog Search for the ares live videos
I had the chance to visit the Lawrence Livermore Lab as a kid back in the late 90's and it was amazing! I saw some seriously cool stuff there.
I'm going to faint,he even likes Disco!Adorable!
Wow...
I hadn't seen the preview before.
That's almost as long and info-filled as the one for Mr. Mom.
I like that fact that the story did not get melodramatic, there are enough sci-fi films out there that are. Part of the appeal for me is that it wasn't an overly serious or emotionally draining movie but matter-of-fact in a way that was entertaining. If he hadn't gone there at all, however, it would've also felt lacking. The one scene where he 'talks' to his parents was enough.
Andy Weir rocks! Great movie and can't wait to read the book!
Definitely his best crowd ^^
The punchline to the joke at 39:55 was so fantastic
Oh my goodness, I arrive here 5 years later, after having loved both book and movie and... OMG, HE'S HILARIOUS... also Fan Fiction Writers for the WIN!!!
Given the occasion and the person, few people'd be able to spare thoughts for that, but wonderful camera work, by the way.
The movie is awesome, interesting , intriguing and funny at times. Great job.
Thanks to the folks at the Lab for sharing this.......go Cowboys
I read this when it was almost free on amazon.
Absolutely AMAZING.
Haven't seen the movie yet.
Can't wait.
I owe you a beer Mr Weir! Actually a lot of beer
Call me if you're in UK
This guy is full of hidden talents. He should do stand up comedy next, for real.
The movie is excellent and knowing the process of getting it made was interesting and entertaining.
Andy cited the reason for SpaceX or commercial spaceflight not existing in the book was that SpaceX didn't even have their contract in 2009, when in reality they had been awarded the contract in 2008, along with Orbital Sciences. Too bad he missed that...
+microproductions6 In the book, the only mention of a booster is of one that is powerful enough to get Iris from Earth to Mars with the planets in totally the wrong position. In the Book its a ULA Delta 9 which is already at the Cape. (their only on the Delta 4 Heavy at the minute). The commercial contracts are for LEO only at the time.
Oh my God, Weir is so funny!! He'd be great as a guest on Colbert!
Awesome. Hope to see the movie...brilliant nerdy & earthy kinda guy I enjoyed listening he has some interesting points too
He may not have written the line "science the sh*t out of it", as he says to question from audience. But if you read the book, you will find that the protagonist was a delightfully foul-mouthed buy, from the opening line of the book to the end. And so the "science the sh*t out of it" really captures the flavor of the book.
You can tell he's having a great time.
Andy, is everything us nerds want to be. Love the book, even many years later.
I'm in the process of reading the book right now, and I love it. I do wish that the book had diagrams or other visuals to help explain all the complicated math that goes on in the book. I'm an artist, I learn best with pictures and when I can see everything laid out like a map and how it all connects.
c++, that man didn’t disappoint
Really fantastic questions.
The Q&A at the end was awesome.
This guy is fantastic!
Such a crazy story
35:00 I've actually been thinking about this. Couldn't you just say that the atmospheric regulator was able to keep the hab at a survivable temperature?
Good point
Well, I read the book again and, at one point, Mark says that the hab isn't able to vent out heat but, that seems kind of inconsistent with fire being the worst case scenario so, I just disregard it. Alternatively, if you wanted to stay totally true to the book, Andy has pointed out that the Martian surface is very cold so, Mark could've brought boulders in from outside and used them as heat sinks.
Just finished the book this weekend and it was absolutely fabulous. I am so in love with Mark Watney, lol. I want to marry him!!! I can't wait to see this movie, and I really feel comfortable with Matt Damon playing this character. Good choice after sensing the character in the book. He has a good heart and a hilariously matter of fact sense of humor. Some of his one-liners are choice. "You are cleared for drilling." "That's what she said." Ha! God I LOVE scientists. I swear I will marry a scientist one day ;)
Seriously, Mark? Seriously?
+WarMuffins Look! A pair of boobs! - (.Y.)
Rich Purnell is a steely eyed missile man
I have a crush on this guy. I loved his book and he's so funny and enthusiastic, passionate, so cool.
Andy Weir is like George R.R. Martin in that they both seem like dudes you could eat a burger and watch sports with despite them having hundreds of millions of dollars.
that was fantastic
excellent. This was fun to watch.
He´s really really funny and the book is great. The film, amazingly, is algo great. I guess he is going to have a hard time replicanting this kind of success in his next book. Hope not.
Unfortunately that's the biggest fear amongst authors.
well project hail mary is gonna be huge I'll tell you that
When I saw the name Mindy Park, I imagined her as Korean.
Well, as a scientist, I can say he is right. We are spoiled, picky, brats. I am a geophysicist and love this guy and the book The Martian. Husband and I seeing movie tonight. Can't wait, what fun. He is a boring general officer in the USMC.
+Annie Buckley I am doing my next scifi through Amazon Kindle.
The force you experience from wind is a function of velocity squared, so 150 km/hr wind with 0.6% earth atmospheric pressure would be like 11.6 km/hr here on earth instead of 1 km/hr. Just saying....
Loved this! Would've just watched the movie, now I want to read the damn book!
READ IT! READ IT NOW WHILE YOU ARE YOUNG!!!
+leejvh Read the book, then listen to the Audio book with RC Bray's narration. To be honest He nails Watney as well.
awsome story! ty
This guy has the geek schtick....love it
"The main character is always someone the author wants to be, or someone the author wants to screw. For the record, I want to _be_ Watney."
Which brings us to Jazz Bashara...
Talk starts at 5:25
Actually the 1.6 billion dollar nasa crs contract was awarded to spacex famously on dec. 23, 2008
love that book!
he is funny, he should play mark in his movie.
His personal history is as entertaining as his book
The publisher thought it was engineer porn. Fun new term, what is some great engineering porn to read?
Warcraft 2?! Dude!
Good book,good movie.
In honor of the film (which I've seen twice!) While I was shopping yesterday at the whole foods, I purchased a bunch of potatoes!
Of course I took one which I did not cook, cut it in half… Took a crap and… (Just kidding about that part :-) and earlier this evening buried the 2 halves of the potato in the ground and watered. It'll be interesting to see what happens. (without taking a **** on it :-)
aaaaaand what happened? the world wants to know man!
It's been a while Skyler, but, I'm pretty sure I probably ended up cooking and eating them at some point :-)
Andy should've played his own protagonist in the movie. He'd be much funnier than Matt Damon.
I go to the University of Arizona and I'm proud of us haha
A good movie
i Think You deserve you in the movie as a charter!! please guyz vote me! up
It seems rather suspicious to me and many others that NASA should choose "NOW" to announce a "breakthrough" discovery of water on Mars to coincide with the showing of "The Martian" movie. Do I smell MONEY?!!!!
+strengthnhope7 Had it occurred to you that NASA has a PR department and these days has to FIGHT for every penny of budget. You can bet your ass they will use every possibility to hype their value in the public mind. Thats how the free market works, you either get with that or fund your public services properly by default. You can't expect to de-fund these things make them fight for budget and then ALSO expect them to not use the tools normal businesses use ever damn day to sell their core value & products.
26:40 ok time to make a probe
it's way over time for lomger,absorbimg movies of this mature....both for group thought, scmietific tramimiig mad the gemeral of the populatiom at large!!this om am ethical level ad a survivability,sustaiability level!
The writer of "The Martian," Andy Weir, credits 95% of the science behind the book to the "Mars Direct" mission plan explored in the documentary film: "The Mars Underground" See it here: ruclips.net/video/tcTZvNLL0-w/видео.html
amdy weir for presidemt!!
Whos Amdy Weir? And is presidemt a job?
Could he have done hydroponic potatoes?
No.
24:51
26:42
I wrote this story the film is mine who the hell are these ingrates
I don't get the Aquaman joke o.O
Because Whales are mamils!
How does he power his potato-habitat again? We are talking Megawatts here.
***** Let's calculate. How big or large are the solar panels in the book or movie and how much juice do they deliver?
Remember that on Mars, solar energy is 1/20 of Earths and that you have to heat up the greenhouse by 185C. And that heater for 500 sq/m gobbles up A LOT of juice. And then you need light. If you use the latest LEDs, you need a minimum of 100W per m2. That is 50 000W constant draw, just for lighting the potatoes. Judging from the film-stills, the growing room is 3 metres high, so at 1000w minimum, you need 2 million watts or 2 Megawatts to heat them.
So just for the LEDs for the potatoes you need a solar panel array that is over 6 kilometres long. If you also want tomatoes, you need more. So to power and heat that habitat one needs, calculating for panel failure, around 200-400 kilometres of 1x1 m 100W solar panels, delivering 5W on Mars. Provided that they are kept squeaky clean and dust free at all times… And that does not power yet any kind of human life support system.
Solar panels are pretty much out of the question.
+Ernst Stavro Blofeld How do you calculate the power needed to maintain a temperature in a volume just from the volume? You need to know, in essence the R- value of the plastic plus that of the hab walls, floors and roofs, and their AREA, not their volume. Remember the hab is surrounded by a near vacuum, so It will act almost like a thermos bottle. Also you are adding the lighting budget on top of the heating budget. Nope! Every power using device on the hab will also act like a heater with 100% efficiency. If the heat is the biggest budget item, it is in effect the only item. The hab is already designed to heat the volume, you might want to heat it a little more to increase the yield, but you don't have to have spuds at hothouse temperatures to grow. Would it surprise you If I told you that in Idaho they grow potatoes outside in ambient, which in Idaho averages out to no better than room temperature over the growing season?
They don't need full direct sunlight lighting levels 24 1/4 hours a sol, either. Overcast days don't slow down the growth of most crops. As long as there is water, and it it not so chilly that it slows the plant's metabolism, the limiting factor in photosynthesis rate is CO2 level. I don't know if it is mentioned in the book, but the still from the movie shows the central area of each hab module has a skylight. This could be supplemented by artificial lighting 24 1/4 hours a sol. What does the HEIGHT of the hab module have to do with the light level calculation? You have to provide a level of illumination to an AREA not a HEIGHT. You also need to POWER the LEDs not HEAT them.
2 megawatts (your figure) of electricity can power 166,667 over the counter residential LED bulbs, generating 800 lumens each, generating 133,333,333 lumens counting only visible spectrum light (and generating enough heat to heat a multistory office building in a Minnesota winter). Shining on 500 square meters that is 226,667 lumens per square meter or lux. On a clear day with the sun directly overhead at sea level under optimal conditions the sky illuminates the surface at an intensity of only 100,000 lux. That solar figure includes the invisible (and photosynthetically useless) infared and UV. Idaho NEVER gets 100,000 lux and it certainly does not get anywhere near that every day, all day, so even if potatoes needed as much light as they get in Idaho on the average, which they don't, they can't possibly need anywhere near 2 megawatts worth of light all day. Your figures are wrong by more than an order of magnitude.
On pg 5 the size of the solar array is specified at 200 square meters. Using typical performance figures for solar panels _currently_ in use by NASA (note that the story takes place in the _future_ so this figure is probably conservative, same for the LED efficiencies above, and I didn't use NASA LEDs above), NASA solar panels get about 400 watts per meter in Earth orbit (they don't buy their solar panels at Home Depot like you do). The intensity of a point source of light diminishes with distance by the inverse square law. The average distance of Earth from the sun is 1.5 X 10E8 meters. The average distance of Mars from the sun is 2.3 X 10E8 meters. So the average intensity of sunlight near Mars is .42 that of Earth. That is about 170 watts per meter for a current NASA solar panel perpendicular to the Sun in the vicinity of Mars. There is no mention of a tracking mount for the panels so I assume most are pointed perpendicular to local zenith noon and just left there. So compensating very conservatively for suboptimal average sun angles and atmospheric attenuation, lets call it 80 watts per meter average output during the day and zero at night. There are storage batteries and such to load balance and we have about 8 kilowatts average over day and night. That's ample for 1 hab supporting 1 astronaut and 1 potato garden, especially with the skylight.
Most of the pertinent figures you need to quantify anything you might want to know about an aspect of the mission design or of the expedients Watney improvised to accomplish his goals and meet his needs are in the book. Hard SF doesn't get much harder than this. There is not much in the way of hand waving away technical problems. Weir solved them before Watney did, and shows his work. READ THE BOOK.
+Digital Nomad -- "What does the HEIGHT (=distance) of the hab module have to do with the light level calculation?"
"The intensity of a point source of light diminishes with distance by the inverse square law."
… are you pulling my leg?
So, how many watts to heat up the bloody potato field and habitat from -160 C?
That plastic foil they used in the movie as a door does not seem to be very efficient as insulation for an ultra-arctic-station. And don't forget to calculate for the back up system… Remember, "Lights out" = DEATH
+Ernst Stavro Blofeld For an plane array of lights with reflectors behind them flooding an area of floor, the formula for a point source spraying light in every direction, most of which leaves the solar system entirely, does not apply, obviously.
Would it surprise you if I told you that the field lights in Idaho go out every night? Watney is the backup system. The whole novel is him making and fixing things. In the case of something trivial like lighting failure, he has (very conservatively) 13 hours to fix it.
It does not take watts to heat a mass, it takes watt/hours. It takes watts to maintain temperature against heat loss. The atmospheric pressure on the other side of the hab material averages 600 pascals (0.087 psi), about 0.6% of Earth's mean sea level pressure of 101.3 kilopascals (14.69 psi). Some thermos bottles don't have a vacuum that good. Different values have been reported for the average temperature on Mars, with a common value being −55 °C (218 K; −67 °F). Surface temperatures may reach a high of about 20 °C (293 K; 68 °F) at noon, at the equator, and a low of about −153 °C (120 K; −243 °F) at the poles. I always use conservative figures in my calculations when trying to prove a point. You took the polar winter figure and rounded it down (colder).
In the novel he patched the airlock hole with hab fabric, which is as insulative as it needs to be to do the job. The movie has him patching it with something that looks like clear polyethylene (what would that be doing on a Mars base?)... looks tacky. The hab is designed to hold room temperature against Mars ambient at that lattitude. The crew had already set up the hab and heated it before he planted the garden. He patched the hab after the number 3 airlock had blown off, killing the potatoes. He reheated the hab afterward, but not for the garden, just so he could live in it. You really can't critique the novel intelligently till you READ THE BOOK.
Digital Nomad Since the inverse square law is a law of physics, it obviously does apply here very much. So with a three yard ceiling, your 1000 lumen on the ceiling will shine about 2 lumen or rather 2 lux on the floor.
God damn his arms are pale.
The reason I'm not a famous author: I'd have given Mark an interest to get back to - "Iris." I'd have given flashback scenes with an apparent romantic interest. Then when he returns, we find out Iris was his cat that was in the background of all of the flashback sequences.
Any Idiot=Artificial Intelligence?