The Martian is a 2011 science fiction debut novel written by Andy Weir. The book was originally self-published on Weir's blog as a serial. In 2014, the book was re-released after Crown Publishing Group purchased the exclusive publishing rights. The story follows an American astronaut, Mark Watney, as he becomes stranded alone on Mars in 2035 and must improvise in order to survive. A film adaptation, The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, was released in October 2015.
Plot summary
In the year 2035, the crew of NASA's Ares 3 mission have arrived at Acidalia Planitia for a month-long stay on Mars. After only six sols, a wind storm threatens to topple their Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), which would trap them on the planet. During the evacuation, an antenna tears loose and impales astronaut Mark Watney, a botanist and engineer, also disabling his spacesuit radio and life signs monitoring system. He is flung out of sight by the wind and presumed dead. As the MAV teeters dangerously, mission commander Melissa Lewis has no choice but to take off without completing the search for Watney. Watney is not dead. His injury proves relatively minor, but with no long-range radio, he cannot communicate with anyone. He must rely on his own resourcefulness to survive and begins a log of his experiences. His philosophy is to "work the problem", solving each challenge in turn as it confronts him. With food a critical, though not immediate, problem, he begins growing potatoes in the crew's Martian habitat, the Hab. He uses an iridium catalyst to separate hydrogen gas from surplus hydrazine fuel, which he then burns with the oxygen in the Habs' air to generate water for the plants. NASA eventually discovers that Watney is alive when satellite images of the landing site show evidence of his activities; NASA personnel begin devising ways to rescue him, but withhold the news of his survival from the rest of the Ares 3 crew, who are on their way back to Earth aboard the Hermes spacecraft, so as not to distract them.
Watney plans to drive 3,235 kilometres (2,010 mi) to Schiaparelli crater where the next mission, Ares 4, will land in four years and whose MAV is already pre-positioned. He begins modifying one of the rovers for the journey, adding solar cells and an additional battery. He makes a three-week test drive to recover part of the Pathfinder lander and Sojourner rover and brings it back to the Hab, enabling him to contact NASA. Mitch Henderson, the Ares 3 flight director, convinces NASA Administrator Teddy Sanders to allow him to inform the Ares 3 crew of Watney's survival; they are thrilled, except for Lewis, who is guilt‑stricken at leaving him behind. The canvas at one of the Hab airlocks tears because of Watney's repeated use of the same airlock, which was not designed for frequent and long‑term usage. This results in the depressurization of the Hab and nearly kills him. He repairs the Hab, but his plants are dead, threatening him again with eventual starvation. Setting aside safety protocols to comply with time constraints, NASA hastily prepares an uncrewed probe to send Watney supplies, but the rocket disintegrates after liftoff. A deal with the China National Space Administration provides a ready booster — planned for use with the Taiyang Shen, an uncrewed solar probe — to try again. With no time to build a probe with a soft-landing system, NASA is faced with the prospect of building a capsule whose cargo can survive crashing into the Martian surface at 300 meters per second (670 mph). However, astrodynamicist Rich Purnell devises a "slingshot" trajectory around Earth for a gravity assist that could get Hermes back to Mars on a much-extended mission to save Watney, using the Chinese rocket booster to send a simpler resupply probe to Hermes as it passes Earth. Sanders vetoes the "Rich Purnell Maneuver", as it would entail risking the other crewmembers, but Henderson secretly emails the details to Hermes. All five of Watney's crewmates approve the plan. Once they begin the maneuver, having disabled the remote overrides, NASA has no choice but to support them. The resupply ship docks with Hermes successfully. Watney resumes modifying the rover because the new rescue plan requires him to lift off from Mars in the Ares 4 MAV. While working on the rover, Watney accidentally shorts out the electronics of Pathfinder, losing the ability to communicate with Earth, except for spelling out Morse code with rocks for a one-way communication. After Watney leaves for Schiaparelli, NASA discovers that a dust storm is approaching his path, but has no way to warn him. The rover's solar cells will be less and less able to recharge, endangering both the rendezvous and his immediate survival if there is not enough power to run his life-support equipment. While crossing Arabia Terra, Watney becomes aware of the darkening sky and improvises a rough measurement of the storm's shape and direction of movement, enabling him to go around it. Surviving a rover rollover on his descent into Schiaparelli, Watney reaches the MAV and reestablishes contact with NASA. He receives instructions on the radical modifications necessary to reduce the MAV's weight to enable it to intercept Hermes during its flyby. The modifications include removing the nose cap of the MAV, which Watney has to cover with Hab canvas. After takeoff, the canvas tears, creating extra drag and leaving the MAV too low for the rendezvous. Lewis hastily improvises a plan to intercept the MAV by firing Hermes' attitude thrusters and then blowing a hole in the front airlock with an improvised sugar-and-liquid-oxygen bomb, using the thrust from the escaping air to reduce speed. Beck, the Hermes' EVA specialist, uses a Manned Maneuvering Unit on a tether to reach Watney and bring him back to Hermes. In a final log entry, Watney expresses his joy at being rescued, reflecting on the human instinct to help those in need.
Main characters The major characters in the novel are:
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