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The Real NASA Technologies In 'The Martian'
An anonymous reader writes: On October 2, movie audiences will get to see Ridley Scott's adaptation of Andy Weir's brilliant sci-fi novel The Martian, about a near-future astronaut who gets left for dead on the planet Mars. (Official trailer.) Both book and film are rooted in actual science, and NASA has now posted a list of technologies featured in the movie that either already exist, or are in development. For example, the Mars rover: "On Earth today, NASA is working to prepare for every encounter with the Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV). The MMSEV has been used in NASA's analog mission projects to help solve problems that the agency is aware of and to reveal some that may be hidden. The technologies are developed to be versatile enough to support missions to an asteroid, Mars, its moons and other missions in the future." They also show off their efforts to develop water reclamation, gardens in space, and oxygen recovery.
Humans don't, can't, and will never live long-term on any piece of real estate in the solar system other than the Earth. It's just not gonna happen. Read some more paperback sci-fi books if you must to tickle your imagination, but the reality is conditions are fucking harsh, as in unsurvivably harsh, everywhere else, and there's not a damn thing we can do to change it. We can make temporary shelter and visit, we can send send probes, we can watch all evening long through telescopes. But the logistical problems of long term survival in an environment where the slightest mistake or equipment failure means instant death means where we are right now is where we will be staying. Please try not to destroy it.