# The Martian film - seen it thread. Unboxed spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095 "2015-09-30T23:46:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/421 "2015-10-30T21:34:13Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Did anyone else think of \*\*\*Echoes \*\*\*every time they showed the “Sol count”? Indeed. When I heard it during the movie, that was absolutely what I was thinking as well. And you and I are not alone. [Here it is](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/trivia) referenced on The Martian’s trivia page at the IMDB (about half way down the page) and [here’s an entire thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/pinkfloyd/comments/3nd6af/i_saw_the_martian_last_night_and_i_noticed/) devoted to the ping on the Pinkfloyd Reddit. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/422 "2015-10-31T02:21:14Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Best username/post combo this thread. Thank you, Madame. Do I win a cookie or something? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/423 "2015-10-31T02:39:17Z")
No, a potato. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/424 "2015-10-31T02:55:25Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > No, a potato. Duh. Well, hell. On the return trip from Oklahoma, an attractive young Mexican woman, cashier at a truck stop, asked where I was from and going, and wished me a blessed day and a happy night. I wonder if she was a very religious person or a prostitute. 😕 But I digress. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/425 "2015-10-31T14:08:55Z")
It could have been both. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/426 "2015-10-31T14:13:51Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > It could have been both. One does not negate the other? Perhaps I should have continued the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/427 "2015-10-31T15:12:31Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I wonder if she was a very religious person or a prostitute. > 😕 Possibly combines the two with the missionary position. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/428 "2015-10-31T15:23:24Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Possibly combines the two with the missionary position. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/429 "2015-11-02T00:54:23Z")
SWMBO and I finally got to see this movie. 3D IMAX, and all I can say is… WOW! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/430 "2015-11-02T04:58:35Z")
Deconstructing the original score for _The Martian_: [The Music Of 'The Martian,' Deconstructed : NPR](http://www.npr.org/2015/10/30/453153097/the-music-of-the-martian-deconstructed) ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/431 "2015-11-02T17:42:05Z")
Finally saw this on Saturday. I loved it, but I will say I was annoyed by the “second MAV” solution. We know since it was in the abort procedures that NASA knew it was a possibility for a storm to knock it over, meaning that one bad storm in two years would completely scrub the next Ares mission. Hell, it might tip over right after the Hermes leaves Earth, leaving them stuck on a year long mission just to circle Mars and come back. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/432 "2015-11-02T18:38:34Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Potatoes are a hardy crop that is easy to grow, provided you keep _phytophththora infestans_ away from it, but as someone noted, it is fairly low in proteins. Mushrooms are an obvious choice, as are soybeans and peanuts, but personally, I’d take a good look at quinoa and amaranth as being high in proteins and especially the amino acid lysine. However, unless you really have a massive capacity for farming space and a crew really into veganism, you’re probably going to want some animal sources of proteins and fats, for which chicken, crayfish, or some other high protein value, fast growing creature can provide. “Algae and bacteria” may seem to be an ideal space colony crop because some types can be easily grown in lab conditions (“in a vat” so to speak)’ while many types of algae have been used in various cuisines and can provide important micronutrients it has never been a staple crop of any society and generally have poorer throughput efficiency in terms of nutritional content per mass or volume than staple foods and animal proteins. > > Stranger A friend and I crunched the space/water/resources/eco formula on this once, when she built a greenhouse that could handle a 200 gallon aquarium. We came down to the combination of freshwater shrimp, green algae, (and actually, they have even better strains now than we were looking at then), mushrooms underneath the cabinet getting regular aquarium muck infusions, and a variety of more “normal” food plants (mostly berries) growing hydroponically at the surface. She’s in Vermont, so even though the greenhouse was insulated enough to stay above 70 degrees F all year round, she would have had to supplement with LED growlights and occasional scoops of compost. But with both algae and plants sucking up the nitrates, you can really let the shrimp bioload go crazy. And the shrimp will do well on table scraps with one or two chitin and iodine heavy shrimp feeds twice per week. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/433 "2015-11-02T18:43:55Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > We know since it was in the abort procedures that NASA knew it was a possibility for a storm to knock it over In fairness, Andy Weir knew it wasn’t possible, and he regrets invoking it instead of an engine test failure. It could have been changed for the film but the storm was more dramatically photogenic. Hey, a movie where everything was technically perfect wouldn’t be as much fun, and this compromise worked fine. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/434 "2015-11-02T18:54:03Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > A friend and I crunched the space/water/resources/eco formula on this once, when she built a greenhouse that could handle a 200 gallon aquarium. We came down to the combination of freshwater shrimp, green algae, (and actually, they have even better strains now than we were looking at then), mushrooms underneath the cabinet getting regular aquarium muck infusions, and a variety of more “normal” food plants (mostly berries) growing hydroponically at the surface. Did you get any numbers as to how much food that would generate over a given period of time? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/435 "2015-11-02T20:23:09Z")
Finally saw it over a week ago. Dreaded having to peruse this whole thread. Nice enough film. Not _all_ the Science was wrong. Was looking forward to seeing what else Mackenzie Davis (from _Halt & Catch Fire_) could do. But … basically the same character. For some reason Jeff Daniels also got stuck playing Will McAvoy. Whole lotta type-casting. I just had too many unanswered questions. Why did the whole crew go down to Mars? Why were they lugging some much crap down to the surface and back? Why would a Martian windstorm (.5% Earth’s atmosphere) do so much damage and why hadn’t NASA planned for it. Sure, they have dustdevils and such, but enough to blow a big hoarking antenna in Damon and send him flying? Tilt the landing craft? Why is NASA investing in multiple landing sites. This isn’t Apollo. They aren’t sending people down for a couple days to grab and go. They are building stuff on Mars. Working on one site for the time being makes a _lot_ more sense. Lots of little stuff: Why is Kapoor sleeping near the rover duplicate? Once he talked to the staff and sized up the situation, he can go home. Phones and Internet are all he needs from then on. And the big one: The O2 bomb. Umm, he pours sugar into a Dewar flask, then liquid O2??? That goes BOOM right then and there. Why send a botanist to Mars? Any old techie could do all the needed tasks with a little training and be useful for other tasks during the long journeys. Too much of a plot device. And the soil on Mars is craptastic for life. All sorts of bad things including Perchlorate! AKA rocket fuel. How does he get just the salt out of it? The dire “He’s going to die every 5 minutes!” part wasn’t as bad as _Gravity_ (especially in the untethered in space department), but still … The big positive is Matt Damon. He just played it right. This is his movie. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/436 "2015-11-02T21:30:35Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Finally saw it over a week ago. Dreaded having to peruse this whole thread. > > Why would a Martian windstorm (.5% Earth’s atmosphere) do so much damage > And the big one: The O2 bomb. Umm, he pours sugar into a Dewar flask, then liquid O2??? That goes BOOM right then and there. > > Why send a botanist to Mars? Peruse the whole thread for your answers. Some are mentioned several times. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/437 "2015-11-03T03:52:20Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Finally saw this on Saturday. I loved it, but I will say I was annoyed by the “second MAV” solution. We know since it was in the abort procedures that NASA knew it was a possibility for a storm to knock it over, meaning that one bad storm in two years would completely scrub the next Ares mission. Hell, it might tip over right after the Hermes leaves Earth, leaving them stuck on a year long mission just to circle Mars and come back. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > In fairness, Andy Weir knew it wasn’t possible, and he regrets invoking it instead of an engine test failure. It could have been changed for the film but the storm was more dramatically photogenic. Hey, a movie where everything was technically perfect wouldn’t be as much fun, and this compromise worked fine. Indeed. That type of storm is impossible on Mars. Weir knew it, fudged it and moved on. But for him to have Nasa take up time worrying about such a hypothetical impossibility happening a second time would have been too unforgivable. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/438 "2015-11-03T04:21:20Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > And the big one: The O2 bomb. Umm, he pours sugar into a Dewar flask, then liquid O2??? That goes BOOM right then and there. I know this isn’t GQ, but… cite? ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/439 "2015-11-03T12:56:53Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Why send a botanist to Mars? Any old techie could do all the needed tasks with a little training and be useful for other tasks during the long journeys. Too much of a plot device. Very much a plot device, true, but there some scientific value in learning how to grow plants on Mars. As I understand it, hydroponics are far more efficient and automated and will be used whenever we want to grow food for short-medium term missions. But if we ever establish a Martian colony that is even slightly self-supporting, crops in dirt in a greenhouse are the way to go. It’s a hell of a lot easier to make a simple pressurized greenhouse than manufacture an entire hydroponics system with artificial lighting. > [@](#): > > And the soil on Mars is craptastic for life. All sorts of bad things including Perchlorate! AKA rocket fuel. How does he get just the salt out of it? You’re right that the perchlorates would have to be removed, and this isn’t mentioned in the movie or book. However they’re not that nasty (you’re breathing another highly reactive rocket fuel _right now_) or hard to deal with. Perchlorates are water soluble, and could simply be washed out of the soil. The contaminated water could be recovered by distilling it, possibly just by pouring it into the water reclamation system. There are also many species of soil bacteria that reduce perchlorate, using it in their metabolism as an alternative electron acceptor in the absence of oxygen and nitrate. The book describes Watney doing more elaborate composting to establish a normal soil microbiome. It’s vaguely plausible that this was sufficient to remove the perchlorates, since the bottom of the compost pile is anaerobic and there should be carbon far in excess of the perchlorate (and nitrate). If that isn’t sufficient, it wouldn’t be that hard to design a system to maximize bacterial perchlorate reduction: 1. Mix martian soil, manure with sufficient carbon (save the urine for later!), and terrestrial soil bacteria including some perchlorate reducers. 2. Seal in a bucket. Add a chemical oxygen scavenger to maximize perchlorate reduction rate. 3. Shake bucket occasionally to mix. Wait for ~days-weeks. Periodically measure perchlorate levels using any standard soil chemistry analysis tools. 4. Once perchlorates are at a low enough level, mix in more manure, urine, and soil bacteria to complete the composting. Subsequent batches from the anaerobic composter can simply be mixed into the normal compost pile ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/440 "2015-11-03T13:31:02Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I know this isn’t GQ, but… cite? Coming up next on _Mythbusters_, the science of _The Martian_! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095.md?page=23)