Watney hates disco, and this becomes a recurring joke throughout the novel.īack on Earth, a NASA employee named Mindy Park figures out that Watney is still alive, by reviewing satellite images of the mission-site. While going through the personal items of his crew members, Watney finds that his only entertainment is a trove of media files from the 1970s, stored on Commander Lewis's hard drive. Mark then explores his means of communication, and realizes that the antenna for the comms satellite is broken.
Watney discovers that he can recycle almost all the air and water he uses, removing any immediate dangers to his life (although he now depends entirely on the life support systems in the Hab, which were intended for a short stint on the planet). He plans to severely ration his food, to survive till the next Ares mission, which is slated several years in the future, landing many thousands of kilometers from his current location. He then takes stock of the food, water, and air supplies remaining in the Hab. He hobbles back to the Hab (the astronauts' base) and tends to his injury, a puncture wound in his stomach. Roughly a day later, however, Watney returns to consciousness, alone on Mars. The Ares 3 crew attempts to maintain morale for the many-months-long trip back to Earth, while NASA does what it can to control fallout, on Earth, from the supposed death of Watney on the Red Planet. Commander Lewis, in charge of the mission, does so with a heavy heart, but believes it to be the proper protocol. The crew leaves Watney on Mars, thinking him to be dead after the incident. During this, Watney is struck with a shard of metal-a piece of the crew's own antenna. After a couple days on Mars, a giant dust storm disrupts the astronauts' mission and forces an abort. Astronaut Mark Watney is a botanist and mechanical engineer on the American Ares 3 mission to Mars, following two successful Ares missions that have been met first with earthly excitement, then mostly indifference.
The Martian begins in the near (and undated) future.
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