48 Fun Facts About The Martian

Who wrote the novel The Martian?

Andy Weir's debut was The Martian; he followed it with Artemis and Project Hail Mary.

How was The Martian first published?

Crown bought the print rights in 2013 for over $100,000 and published it in February 2014.

For how much did Weir first sell the Kindle edition of The Martian at fans' request?

Weir put the Kindle edition up for 99 cents, the Amazon minimum, at fans' request; it sold 35,000 copies in three months and topped Amazon's science-fiction chart.

What is Mark Watney's scientific speciality?

Watney's speciality is botany, which is how he knows to farm Martian soil fertilised with the crew's waste; in the novel he doubles as the mission's mechanical engineer.

What is the name of the Mars mission Mark Watney is on when he is stranded in The Martian?

Ares III is the third crewed Mars mission in the book, landing on the plain of Acidalia Planitia for a planned 31-sol surface stay.

What is the name of the ship that carries the crew between Earth and Mars?

Hermes is the ion-drive ship that ferries Ares crews between Earth and Mars; the crew vote unanimously to turn it around and go back for Watney.

What forces the crew to abandon Watney, believing him dead?

A dust storm's flying debris strikes Watney during the evacuation; NASA scientists later noted a real Martian storm would have almost no force in the thin air.

In the novel, what impales Watney during the evacuation?

An antenna torn loose by the wind impales Watney and smashes his suit's bio-monitor, so the crew see him flatline and leave him for dead.

How many sols into the mission does the storm hit in the novel?

The storm hits six sols in, on Sol 6 of a planned 31-sol surface stay, which is why Watney's first log entry is headed 'Sol 6'.

What crop does Watney farm inside the Hab?

Watney farms potatoes from the crew's Thanksgiving supply in Martian soil fertilised with the crew's waste; for the film, real potatoes were grown on a neighbouring sound stage.

Watney makes water for his crops from what?

He uses leftover rocket fuel, the hydrazine from the descent vehicle, passing it over an iridium catalyst to free hydrogen, which he burns with oxygen to make water.

Which old NASA probe does Watney dig up to restore contact with Earth?

The real Pathfinder landed on 4 July 1997 carrying the rover Sojourner.

Which NASA satellite planner is the first to notice Watney is alive?

Mindy Park, a SatCon satellite-imagery analyst, notices the Hab's solar panels have been cleaned and the rover moved; Weir said he pictured her as Korean, though that never made it into the book.

Which NASA official decides not to tell the Ares III crew that Watney is alive?

NASA Administrator Teddy Sanders withholds the news so the Hermes crew stay focused on the long flight home, overruling flight director Mitch Henderson.

What destroys Watney's potato garden?

An airlock explosion: Airlock 1's fatigued canvas seal blows out, decompressing the Hab and freezing the potato crop; later he shorts out Pathfinder too by running a drill's current through it.

Which space agency provides the booster that makes the rescue possible?

China's space agency gives NASA its Taiyang Shen booster, a rocket built to launch a solar probe, after the Iris resupply probe is lost on launch.

Which astrophysicist devises the slingshot plan that sends the crew's ship back to Mars?

Rich Purnell, a NASA astrodynamicist, works out that Hermes can swing past Earth for a gravity assist and return to Mars, the plan the crew dub the Rich Purnell Maneuver.

How does the crew learn of the Purnell plan after Sanders rejects it?

Henderson secretly sends it to them by email from NASA; Sanders backs the crew publicly once they commit but demands Henderson's resignation afterwards.

In the film's climax, how does Watney propel himself across the gap to Lewis?

By piercing his suit to vent air through a punctured glove, Watney jets toward Lewis in the film; in the novel it is Beck who goes out on the tether to grab him.

What job does Watney take after returning to Earth?

In the film's coda Watney is an astronaut survival instructor, telling candidates that in space you solve one problem at a time; the final scene is the Ares V launch.

Who plays Mark Watney?

Matt Damon plays Watney; the year before he had played Dr Mann, another stranded astronaut, in Interstellar (2014).

Who directed The Martian?

Ridley Scott directed The Martian, which out-grossed Gladiator to become the highest-grossing film of his career.

Which screenwriter adapted the novel and later also adapted Project Hail Mary?

Drew Goddard wrote the adaptation, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and later scripted the Project Hail Mary film for directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

Jessica Chastain plays which member of the Ares III crew?

Jessica Chastain plays Melissa Lewis, the mission commander and the crew's geologist; she prepared by meeting astronauts and scientists at JPL and the Johnson Space Center.

Which Community and Atlanta star plays the JPL astrodynamicist behind the slingshot rescue plan in The Martian?

Donald Glover's astrodynamicist was one of three film roles for him in 2015, alongside Magic Mike XXL.

Which actor plays the NASA administrator who keeps Watney's survival from the crew?

Jeff Daniels plays Administrator Teddy Sanders; he had earlier co-starred with Christopher Lloyd in the 1999 comedy My Favorite Martian.

Chiwetel Ejiofor's casting as Vincent Kapoor drew criticism because the novel's character is named what?

In the novel he is Venkat Kapoor, implicitly Indian-American; the film renamed him Vincent, and Weir defended the casting by saying his book deliberately avoided physical descriptions.

Where were the film's interior sets built?

The interiors were built at Korda Studios outside Budapest, Hungary, in the wine village of Etyek about 30 km west of the capital.

Which desert in Jordan stood in for the surface of Mars?

Wadi Rum, the 'Valley of the Moon' in southern Jordan, stood in for Mars as it had in Red Planet (2000) and The Last Days on Mars (2013), and later did for Arrakis in Dune.

What did the production give to Jordan as thanks for its hospitality?

The production donated the Mars rover model it built for filming to Jordan, and it went on display at the Royal Automobile Museum in Amman.

How long did principal photography last?

Ridley Scott, a famously fast shooter, wrapped principal photography in about 70 days, beginning in November 2014, on a budget of $108 million.

Which music genre, loved by Watney's mission boss and loathed by him, is a running gag?

Lewis's disco collection is the only music Watney has, so the soundtrack runs from Donna Summer's 'Hot Stuff' to ABBA's 'Waterloo'.

Which David Bowie song features in the film?

Bowie's 'Starman' (1972) scores the montage of the Hermes crew and NASA preparing the rescue; the obvious choice, 'Life on Mars?', was left out.

Roughly how much did The Martian gross worldwide?

The Martian grossed about $630 million worldwide on a $108 million budget, helped by opening days after NASA announced evidence of liquid water flowing on Mars.

How many Academy Award nominations did The Martian receive?

Its seven nominations were Best Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects, and it won none.

In which much-mocked Golden Globe category did the film's lead win Best Actor?

The Martian was entered as a comedy, so its lead won Best Actor – Musical or Comedy and the film took Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, to widespread bemusement.

Where was The Martian given a special screening on 19 September 2015?

NASA arranged for The Martian to be screened aboard the International Space Station on 19 September 2015, nearly two weeks before its 2 October US release.

At the 2016 Hugos, the author of The Martian won which prize?

Weir took the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, presented at the 2016 Hugo ceremony, the same night the film won the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.

The author of The Martian once programmed Warcraft II at which video-game company?

Weir worked as a programmer at Blizzard on Warcraft II (1995); he had started coding at Sandia National Laboratories at 15 and kept programming for two decades before writing full time.

Which Australian bush tomato species was named in honour of The Martian?

Solanum watneyi, a bush tomato from Australia's Northern Territory, was named in 2016 after Mark Watney, the novel's botanist, by a Bucknell University team.

In which year is the novel set?

2035 is when the crew lands for a planned month-long stay, only for a windstorm to cut the mission short after six sols.

Which crater does Watney drive 3,235 km to reach, where the next mission's ascent vehicle waits?

Schiaparelli crater holds the pre-positioned Ares IV ascent vehicle; crossing Arabia Terra he tracks a dust storm's edge by solar-panel output and steers around it, then survives a rover rollover descending into the crater.

After shorting out his only link to Earth in The Martian, how does Watney keep sending one-way messages?

Spelling Morse code with rocks lets satellites photograph his messages; NASA can read them but cannot reply, which is why he never hears that a dust storm is coming.

Who composed the film's score, his fourth collaboration with Ridley Scott?

Gregson-Williams had previously scored Scott's Kingdom of Heaven and Exodus: Gods and Kings, and contributed music to Prometheus.

Which Gloria Gaynor anthem plays over the film's closing credits?

The exit music, alongside 'Don't Leave Me This Way', is a wry comment on Watney's predicament; the crew commander's 1970s playlist fills the film.

At which festival did the film premiere in September 2015?

Toronto hosted the premiere; the film opened wide in North America on 2 October and took $18 million on its first day alone.

Which Bridesmaids star plays Annie Montrose, NASA's director of media relations, in The Martian?

Kristen Wiig's NASA spokeswoman made the cut; Naomi Scott was also cast, as a JPL team member named Ryoko, but her scenes were dropped from the final film.

Which actor, famous as Ned Stark, plays Mitch Henderson, the Hermes flight director, in The Martian?

Sean Bean plays Mitch Henderson, the flight director who covertly sends the crew the rescue plan; his casting pays off in the scene NASA staff nickname 'Project Elrond'.