Accurate And Inaccurate Events In The Film The Martian
Recently I've viewed a relatively old movie named The Martian. The viewing experience of the movie was great and I definitely enjoyed viewing this film. This film was released in October 2, 2015 and was directed by Ridley Scott and had a total box office sales of $202,313,768,. The movie was a huge success and has a rotten tomato rating of 91% voted by the audiences experience.
The movie is mainly taken place on Mars, with 6 astronauts(Commander Melissa Lewis, Major Rick Martinez Alex Vogel, Doctor Chris Beck, Beth Johanssen, Mark Watney) on a NASA mission. The astronauts on board the mission have to be forced to leave the rigid weather conditions of Mars, when a severe dust storm occurs. Mark( Matt Damon) is left behind on Mars, while the rest go back to earth. Throughout the film, it shows the harsh struggles for Mark on Mars. NASA knowing Mark is alive and well they attempt to send some supplies to Mars but fail. As the film progresses, Mark is forced to make a risky voyage to safety. The crew on route to Earth hatch their own idea to bring Mark home.
The Martian entitles some fair shares of factual space information as well as more non-factual information. Some things the movie got scientifically correct is ‘Martian Soil’. In the film Mark is forced to use his own waste and Mars soil to grow his own ‘Mars Grown’, potatoes. Mars soil composition, makes it so there is a very little chance of getting plants as such to grow on the planet, but not as likely as on Earth. The soil composition here on earth is mostly made up of 50% water and air, 45% mineral matter, and 5% organic matter. Mars soil composition is 98% mineral matter, and 2% water. Since the lack of water and air, the likelihood for growing plants is slim but Mark makes up for that. The next semi fact but is 100% true and factual is the making of water. In the film, Mark realizes he needs a high amount of water to maintain his makeshift farm. He does this by burning hydrogen with oxygen. In the movie this works to expected, but in a factual standpoint you can do this! By burning the two minerals the steam from the operation generates water slowly. But.. Wasting oxygen (a very important thing for humans), may not be the best way to make water on Mars. As said the soil composition is 98% mineral matter and 2% water. When you travel to the poles on Mars the % of water skyrockets to around 60%. Instead of wasting that oxygen. Just burn the soil! The final fact in the movie can be explained by how Mark communicates with Earth. In the film, Mark digs up a rover named ‘Pathfinder’. Theoretically if you would have two rovers linked to each other, one will land on a given planet and operate if it runs out of battery or ‘dies’ simply charge the battery (what Mark does), and link them to communicate again. This way of communicating is 100% true!
Some non factual information displayed in the film firstly is the storm. In the film, is it the storm that starts the whole kaos. This ‘storm’ is impossible. On the Mars the atmosphere is 1% thick. So eve then, comparing a 100 Mph winds on Mars is as equal as 10 Mph on earth. Still strong but not to the extreme. Not factual! Another non factual fact that can be acknowledged is the gravitational force on Mars. In the film, the gravity is seems to be as equally fine as on earth but in reality Mars gravity is 1/3 of Earth's, making it way more bouncy. The final and last non factual thing displayed in the film is taking off of Mars. In the film the crew need to escape the dust storm with the MAV. Even by 2020, NASA cannot determine how to properly lift off of Mars due to the switch of gravity. They will need a spacecraft that can adjust to Earth’s and Mars gravity.
Overall there are some fair accurate and inaccurate events that occur during this film. As a whole, this as a viewer doesn’t change the overall experience of the movie. I think it’s a good thing to give a little of inaccuracies to balance the film to not becoming a documentary. As a whole, having some good facts throughout the film with some made up things is what makes a film.
