The Martian

The Martians (original title: The Martian ) is the debut novel of American writer Andy Weir , of the science fiction - genre belongs. It was first self- published by Weir in 2011 until it was published by Crown in 2014. The German translation by Jürgen Langowski was also published by Heyne-Verlag in 2014. It is described as a mixture of Apollo 13 and Cast Away .

The Martian was named Knowledge Book of the Year in 2015.

Two different book covers appeared. The first shows an astronaut falling over. The newer book cover is like a paperback. The new cover shows Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, in a spacesuit. It's a picture of the film adaptation. The book has 509 pages.

content

The position of the base on Mars, the Acidalia Planitia

NASA astronaut Mark Watney is one of six members of Ares 3, the third manned mission to Mars ; it lands in the Martian region of Acidalia Planitia . When a violent dust storm forced them to abort the mission on the sixth day on the surface , Watney was hit by the habitat's antenna flying in the storm, puncturing his spacesuit and passing out. Since his damaged suit no longer sends signals, Watney is believed dead by his comrades after a brief, desperate, unsuccessful search in the dust storm. They leave Mars without him. However, he survived, and his injuries prove to be relatively minor. But since all communication systems were destroyed by the storm, Watney, the botanist and engineer on the mission, has to rely on his scientific and technical skills in order to survive without any possibility of communication with Earth. The vital systems such as the oxygenator, which produces oxygen from carbon dioxide, the atmosphere regulator, which ensures a healthy air composition, and the water conditioner, which produces clean water from used water and thus creates a cycle, are still intact. He keeps a log of his activities in case his body is discovered by future astronauts.

He manages to cultivate potatoes in the habitat of the expedition that was not destroyed by the storm, and to obtain water from the fuel left over from the landing module. However, with his supplies and the potatoes he can only survive about 900 Sol (Martian days). When producing water, he fills the dome with hydrogen , but can later refill it with air.

While examining satellite imagery of the landing area, NASA notices that Watney is still alive and begins looking for ways to save him. The knowledge of Watney's survival holds her back from the rest of the Ares 3 crew, who are on their way back to Earth in the spaceship "Hermes" so as not to distract them.

Watney's Paths from Acidalia Planitia to Pathfinder and into Schiaparelli Crater

Watney plans to travel 3,200 km to the Schiaparelli Crater , where the ferry is already located, which will later bring the crew of Ares 4 back to the spaceship, which will be there in four years - he wants to be there at the same time to return . He begins by preparing one of the two abandoned rovers of the Ares 3 mission for the journey by equipping it with solar cells and additional batteries. On a long test drive, he harvests the unmanned Mars Pathfinder probe and the associated Sojourner rover and brings them back to the dome, where he can successfully repair them and make contact with the earth via a primitive hack on the rover. Mitch Henderson, the flight director of Ares 3, convinces NASA manager Teddy Sanders to inform the members of the Ares 3 crew of Watney's survival now that they are in contact with him. The crew are overjoyed, with the exception of Commander Melissa Lewis, who makes grave allegations for leaving Watney behind.

When Watney's potatoes are ready for harvest for the second time, the dome bursts open explosively due to material fatigue. He survived in the airlock thrown 50 meters away and was able to repair the dome. But due to the cold of Mars he lost all potatoes and parts of his water. Since he no longer has the opportunity to grow food without viable potato plants, he threatens to starve again. NASA cancels a ready-to-launch Saturn mission and uses the rocket to bring food to Watney. Since the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is under time pressure, tests are dispensed with and the rocket explodes after launch. The China National Space Administration approaches NASA and offers to make one of their rockets available, in return NASA is supposed to take a Chinese Taikonaut into the Ares 5 mission. Due to the unfavorable constellation of Mars and Earth and the resulting long flight time, however, there is no time to construct a landing system, which is why NASA decides to dump the supplies unchecked.

In the meantime, the astrodynamic scientist Rich Purnell finds a flight maneuver that would allow the Hermes with the available reserves to pick up the Chinese rocket with the food in the earth flyby and return to Mars in time to save Watney. Teddy Sanders rejects this plan because it would put five more astronauts at risk. The maneuver and all data are then sent in an email to Hermes without the knowledge of NASA, and after a consultation the crew decides to disregard NASA's decision and initiate the corresponding flight maneuver. In doing so, they are forcing NASA to carry out the plan.

Watney must reach Schiaparelli Crater and go up to Hermes to save himself. NASA instructs him to modify the rover so that he can make the trip to the landing site of Ares-4. He accidentally short- circuits the Pathfinder transmitter and thus loses the ability to communicate with Earth. Watney therefore places messages in Morse code with stones that can be recognized on satellite images. He uses the second rover as a trailer for the first and accommodates all vital systems there. During the trip, however, he has to pause every five days to produce oxygen, and so needs at least 45 days to cover the distance.

The Hermes manages to pick up the food capsule during the earth flyby. After the crew is allowed to speak to family members over the radio, the ship takes the flight path to Mars.

Watney has meanwhile made his way to Schiaparelli. During the trip, NASA notices a dust storm on Watney's route, which prevents the batteries from being charged, and which would lead to the failure of the rescue plan. Watney noticed the danger in good time and was able to bypass the storm successfully.

Shortly before the MRM (Mars Return Module), Watney's rover overturns as it enters the Schiaparelli crater. Watney survived, erects the rover and can quickly make it drivable again. When he reaches the MRM, he can get in contact with NASA again through its radio antennas. Their instructions enable him to free the spaceship from a great deal of superfluous weight in order to achieve the necessary take-off speed to bring him on a parallel course with the Hermes. Watney removes an outer panel and covers the opening with a tarpaulin. During take-off the tarpaulin tears, and due to the lack of aerodynamics and the resulting too low speed, Watney threatens to miss the rendezvous point by far. His fellow missionaries can still reach the place through improvisation and blow a hole in one of the Hermes' airlocks to slow it down with the outflowing atmosphere. This is how Mark Watney can ultimately be saved from Mars. He spent more than a year and a half there alone.

History of origin

Author Andy Weir at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center , 2015

Andy Weir has his technical background in the field of computer science. In 2009, he started his background research to make the book as realistic as possible while referencing existing techniques.

After the work was rejected by several publishers, Weir published the book on his website for free. At the request of his fans, he created a version for the Amazon Kindle , which he offered for 99 US cents (that was the possible minimum price). The Kindle edition reached the top of Amazon's science fiction best-sellers, selling 35,000 times in three months. This caught the attention of publishers, and Podium Publishing , an audiobook publisher, bought the audiobook rights in January 2013. Weir sold the book rights to Crown in March 2013 for a six-figure dollar amount.

The book was ranked 12th on the New York Times bestseller list on March 2, 2014 .

Scientific accuracy

The techniques presented in the novel are considered realistic or feasible. The locations on Mars have been located.

Andy Weir answered the reader's question on Reddit about new findings that he had received since the book was published that there is much more water in the soil on Mars than is assumed in the book. The plot would probably not have changed that, since the location of the plot is a desert. When asked if there was something in the book that couldn't be true, he said that the sandstorm at the beginning of the action was simply impossible on Mars because the atmosphere on Mars is far too thin for it.

filming

In March 2013, Twentieth Century Fox secured the film rights and commissioned screenwriter Drew Goddard to adapt the book and to direct it. In May 2014, it was reported that Ridley Scott was in negotiations to direct the film, with Matt Damon in the lead role. The film was due to hit American theaters on October 2, 2015. Jessica Chastain followed on September 3, 2014 as a further leading actress. Other actors are Kristen Wiig , Kate Mara , Michael Peña , Mackenzie Davis , Jeff Daniels , Donald Glover , Aksel Hennie , Sebastian Stan and Chiwetel Ejiofor . On June 7, 2015, a viral video teaser was released that presented the protagonists in the manner of an interview. The first official trailer appeared a day later. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2015 . The German title is Der Martianer - Rettet Mark Watney , the film was released in German cinemas on October 8th.

On February 18, 2016, the DVD version and a 3D version on Blu-ray were released in Germany.

literature

Uwe Kramm: The long way to Mars: A conversation with Andy Weir . In: The Science Fiction Year 2015, ISBN 978-3-944720-48-7 , pp. 239-251.
Andy Weir: The Martian. Heyne, Munich 2014, ISBN 3-453-31583-9 .
Audiobook : The Martian: Save Mark Watney . 2 Mp3-CDs, (abridged reading by Richard Barenberg) Random House Audio, 2015, ISBN 978-3-8371-3155-0 .