Posted on 09/29/2015 1:07:58 PM PDT by Textide
FReepers, I can't recommend this one enough. This book is phenomenal.
Here's an effort at a short summary: In the near future, an astronaut is presumed dead and left behind on Mars during a dust storm. Turns out he pulled through and has to figure out how to survive. NASA has several missions planned over the coming years so he meticulously plans and executes his survival with the hopes that the future missions take place.
What struck me was that he didn't feel sorry for himself. He conducted himself as a man and even had contempt for fate. He wasn't concerned for the environment or the emotions of loneliness. Instead the focus of the book is continuous engineering and problem solving.
I read an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day which stated that the author was glad that Hollywood didn't insert a love story into the movie. It's meant to be about man's triumph over Nature and the application of science to that end. The science is the drama, as the author says.
Matt Damon is a Left Wing Libtard, but I hope the movie coming out this Friday is a success. Ad Astra!
I’m about 3/4 of the way through it right now. Great book. You’re right, the guy’s attitude is phenomenal. Just unending grit applied to difficult circumstances in order to find a way to survive.
Weir was able to self-publish this book which would have been “fixed” by a traditional publisher if it was picked up at all, and that is the joy I find in the new publishing era. Not every story needs to fit the New York publisher checklist of what a successful novel should be. It’s up to the writers and readers again to determine what will become popular.
ping
I remember that one. Wasn’t that Adam West?
Read it. Book got a bit boring when it constantly went into math and calories over and over and other such things.
Movie seems to be better.
Just me.
what it does not have is enough mass to hold an atmosphere.
early in its’ formation it had atmosphere, flowing water, oceans even, and underground water.
But, over time, gases were able to slowly escape away into space, leaving the planet cold.
the underground water is still there, though some weeps to the surface (arteasan well, if you like)in Martian “summer”.
whether it has an iron core, or not, is a side issue.
I’m afraid if Matt Damon is the stranded astronaut, I would spend the whole movie rooting for him to die :)
Then I’ll probably be disappointed and have to go rewatch Interstellar to get my satisfaction.
He was in it but he died on landing
Here is the cast:
Paul Mantee as Commander Christopher “Kit” Draper
Victor Lundin as Friday
Adam West as Colonel Dan McReady
Barney the Woolly Monkey, as Mona. According to Mantee, because Barney was a male, he had to wear a fur-covered diaper.[1]
“I heard today the Mars has no gravity ( No IRON CORE )and that solar winds blow everything off.”
No, every piece of matter in the universe has gravity. What Mars lacks is a magnetic field, that is what shields planets from the solar wind.
It does have some small, localized magnetic fields that could protect small regions of the planet, but it doesn’t have a “bubble” of magnetism that shields the whole planet.
Thread winner!
Would it be suitable for an 8 year old?
I understand. Whenever I see Titanic on TV I make sure to tune in and watched Leonardo de Crappio die his cold agonizing death.
Okay, so Hollywood resisted the temptation to insert a love story into it, but did they manage to insert their usual emetic Leftist propaganda?
The book certainly wouldn’t. The F-word is in the first sentence. I’m guessing the movie would be similar. 14-15 year old maybe.
No idea. The movie is released on Friday 10/2.
Have not read, but the trailer looked like he was reprising his role in Interstellar.
A property of mass is the distortion of space. Mass-free theoretical straight line paths in space are in fact altered to curved pathways by the presence of any mass, as evidenced by observation. A local observer (orbiting body) notes no applied acceleration affecting the course of the body. Warped space around a massive body allows another body to move without external imposed accelerations, yet follow a closed path.
Curvature of space is greater for a given mass, as distance to a mass is diminished. Static gravity is an effect of differential curvature of space, as a function of distance from the center of a mass. More mass= more space curvature= more observed gravity.
The lack of a magnetosphere, for lack of a strong magnetic field, allows the plasma from the solar wind to interact with the Mars atmosphere. Energy added sufficient to achieve orbital escape velocity of high altitude atoms or molecules from the Martian atmosphere, is the primary driver of depletion.
The fallacy here is that any future mission would land near him. Mars isn't quite as large as Earth, but the odds of landing anywhere where a man could walk to meet a mission party are pretty slim. If you were stranded in Chicago (which you WOULD be if you were in Chicago), and a mission landed a mere 500 miles away, you would never even know it, let alone be able to make it there in time to be rescued. And what if the mission landed in Vancouver or Adelaide?
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