"Martian". Where is the truth, and where is the fiction

How plausible is Ridley Scott's film

In Russian cinemas, the rental of the film "Martian" directed by Ridley Scott began. On Mars, one of the crew of the Ares 3 mission Mark Mark Watney accidentally remains; He needs to somehow hold out in unbearable conditions until NASA pulls it out of the planet. Fortunately, Watnik is a botanist, so he becomes the first person who managed to grow a crop of potatoes on Mars. As always, after the release of a large tape about the cosmos, the whole world argues that in the film Ridley Scott looks like the truth, and that is complete nonsense. Medusa studied what experts say about Martian, and tells how realistic this film is.

Warning. If you have not watched the film yet, please do not read further - the text is full of spoilers. Look better at the raccoon adopted by the dogs . He is cool. And be sure to go to Martian.

First of all, I must say that the Martian Ridley Scott is not based on real events. Yes, many people think so and, believe me, even such a feeling may appear during your viewing. The main action of the picture is unfolding in real areas of Mars. The mission of Ares 3 is planted in the Acidalian Plain:

And the ship of the next mission "Ares 4", where Mark Watney is to reach, is in the crater of Schiaparelli. According to scientists, there is about a meter layer of dust, so it would be difficult for a real astronaut to make his way through such an area.

At the very beginning of the film, the Ares 3 team overtakes a sudden hurricane: the wind is so strong that it destroys temporary buildings and almost overturn the spaceship. In reality, this could not be, since the atmosphere is rarefied on Mars, and the local hurricane is unlikely to be able to cause the same damage as on Earth. End Wir, the author of the book on which the film was shot, claims that he knew about it. NASA notes that the maximum wind speed on Mars is 100 kilometers per hour - less than that of strong earth's hurricanes. But there really are lightning on Mars.

According to the plot, Mark Watny loses consciousness when a piece of broken antenna flies into it. When he comes to his senses and understands that the team flew away without him, Watn, nevertheless, remains quite calm. This is similar to the truth, noted in NASA: the ability to remain calm in any situation is very important for each astronaut. “You put them in a difficult situation with an unexpected problem, and they are looking for ways to get out of it using everything that will turn up by the arm,” said Brian Murhad, a leading engineer of the NASA reactive movement.

Mark Watney is a biologist, he decides to grow potatoes from a reserve, laid out by someone from his colleagues on the Day of thanksgiving. To fertilize the soil, he uses human excrement. According to the chief researcher of the NASA Astrobilogy Center Michael Mamma, it looks believable , although the soil on Mars is far from the same as on Earth. However, the scientist believes that excrement could help to grow something there. However, it is not very similar to the truth that Mark Watn has an almost inexhaustible supply of natural fertilizers.

Potatoes need to not only be fertilized, but also watered with water. The astronaut decides to obtain water with hydrogen from unused fuel and generator that turns carbon dioxide into oxygen. It sets fire to hydrogen, and as a result of a chemical reaction, water is obtained. Michael Mamma from NASA considers this experiment logical, although there is quite little carbon dioxide on Mars.

On Mars, Mark Watny spent 500 Martian days (one Sol - a little more than earthly days). All this time he is subjected to radioactive irradiation. If on Earth the atmosphere protects against radiation, then on Mars there is practically no. If it enters the Red Planet, a person receives a dose of radiation, 15 times higher than the level permissible for an employee of the nuclear power plant per year. The film does not say anything about this, but, as Vox notes , it is not known when events take place (although the author of the book said that in 2035): perhaps in the future people learned to cope with radiation.

One of the incredible moments is to send the Ares 3 mission ship back to Mars. According to the plot, NASA decides to use a gravitational maneuver in order to disperse the ship during a turn around the Earth, and rather return it to a neighboring planet. Similar maneuvers are a common phenomenon: exactly, for example, Rosetta reached the comet Churumova-Gerasimenko . However, for this maneuver, you need to start the device at a certain time, when the celestial bodies are located in the right way.

“By sending a ship from Mars, you calculate the time in such a way as to put it on the ground. If you suddenly decide not to plant the device, but order it to make a gravitational maneuver, the problem appears: Mars does not stand still, but also rotates in its orbit. That is, it will be the wrong point to crank this, ”says Mamil Mamma from NASA. According to him, such a coincidence is possible only theoretically.

Vladimir Tsybulsky