In the upcoming movie The Martian, Matt Damon’s character Mark Watney attempts to survive after being left behind, presumed dead, on Mars. But even if he somehow managed to obtain an adequate supply of food, water, and breathable air, would such a feat be possible?
According to CNN.com, Watney has to spend most of his time wearing his spacesuit in order to protect himself from the cold atmosphere, the lack of breathable air, and the dust on the planet. Odds are that current spacesuits would be up to the task, but the website reports that NASA is currently developing two prototypes that would “strike a balance between durability and flexibility.”
The reason that Watney is stranded in the first place is a massive dust storm that kicks up, and in the film the strong winds rip an antenna out of a piece of equipment, demolishing a portion of the astronauts’ camp. However, NASA said that it is “unlikely” that a dust storm could strand an astronaut, and with winds maxing out at 60 mph, damage to equipment would be minimal.
The lower atmospheric pressure also makes the wind speed less dangerous, but the space agency pointed out that the dust storms are not completely harmless. The individual particles of dust on the planet are small and somewhat electrostatic, meaning that they stick to surfaces similar to the way that Styrofoam packing peanuts do – a potential hazard for machines and solar panels.
Experts divided on the impact of Mars’ radiation
There’s also the issue of radiation, and the possibility that an astronaut could be caught in a solar storm. Radiation studies of the planet’s surface are in the early stages, Discovery News said on Monday, so the affects of long-term exposure are unknown. The Mars One project insists that radiation exposure for colonists would be “within space agencies’ astronaut career limits.”
Alex Young, the associate director for science in the heliophysics science division at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, told Discovery News that a future mission would likely include a special telescope to allow astronauts to monitor the situation and retreat to radiation-resistant on an as-needed basis. Researchers are also investigating new protective materials, including nylon embedded with boron and nitrogen, for use on a mission to Mars.
John Logsdon, a former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told The Guardian that the radiation would likely have a noticeable effect on Watney. He would likely “get very sick” after spending so much time on Mars. Were he fortunate enough to make it back to Earth, the odds are he would “die of cancer a year later,” Logsdon added.
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Feature Image: NASA
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