My take on the 'The Martian'

By Elmer Beauregard

I went and saw "The Martian" last night, loved it, five stars, 2 thumbs up and all that stuff.

Just a couple of things.

1. What the heck is a SOL?
The movie starts with the words "Sol 1" superimposed on the screen, then Sol 2, Sol 3 etc. up top about Sol 2,534. I assumed that a "Sol" is a Day on Mars which is probably a different length than a day on earth, that part didn't bother me so much. What bothered me was through the ENTIRE movie I heard people whispering all over the theater "What's a Sol?" it was very distracting. I wanted to stand up at one point during the 3rd hour and yell "A SOL IS PROBABLY A DAY ON MARS! SHUT UP!!!" The makers just needed to put in a 5 second scene explaining what a Sol is, preferably near the beginning. It's probably on the cutting room floor.

2. Why was his vehicle Solar Powered?
A big part of the movie was Mark Watney (Matt Damon) driving around in a solar powered vehicle that he had to charge for 13 hours everyday. Didn't NASA learn through their Mars Rover program that Solar Power doesn't work to well on Mars?

The first Mars Rover was solar powered and didn't last that long, the current Rover is Nuclear powered and will run for another 100 years. Plus, this is supposed to take place in the future you'd think they'd have something more reliable than Solar Power in the 22nd century such as Helium 3 for instance. The vehicle he drives is quite large and has more towing capacity than my Tahoe but can go for many hours straight on a 13 hour charge. They must have made great strides in Solar Panel Technology in the future, with today's panels you could maybe run a 60 watt light bulb for 10 minutes. NASA shouldn't be worried about global warming on Mars, its atmosphere is 95% CO2 and it’s freezing. You’d think that NASA would use the most long lasting robust energy source available because lives are depending on it.

3. Where did all the electricity and Oxygen come from?
Mark Watney did have problems with his solar powered car but when he was in his Mars house he had all the electricity and Oxygen he would ever need. He always had the radio blasting, all the TVs, lights, computers were always on plus had an eternal flame burning for his crops, you'd think that would burn up a lot of Oxygen?

Maybe NASA got smart on this one and he had a Nuclear power station or maybe it was coal powered and maybe he had huge reserves of Oxygen we don't know because they never addressed it. They did address the lack of water on Mars, which had they made the movie now after last week's announcement that they found water on Mars they probably would have handled that different.

In the 1964 film "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" which is billed as "Scientifically Authentic" it was all about the lack Oxygen and water.

One way Mark Watney could have got Oxygen on Mars was from the potato plants he planted in his greenhouse. This would have been a great opportunity to show the symbiotic relationship between man and plants called 'Photosynthesis' where plants take CO2 (which Mars has plenty of) and converts it into food for us plus Oxygen for us to breath.

In 1774 Joseph Priestley kept a mouse in a jar of air until it collapsed but when he put a plant in the glass dome with the mouse they both survived.

Now that they have found water on Mars, NASA should send Rovers up there that could plant trees, probably pine trees that can handle cold weather. Then in a few years maybe Mars' atmosphere will have enough Oxygen for animals to live there. Instead of constantly trying to find life on Mars maybe we should plant it.