This is a story about a man named Mark Watney, an astronaut who is left behind on a mission
to Mars during a sandstorm.
His spacesuit gets punctured with an antennae, but he survives and watches as the rest of
the Ares 3 crew flies away.
He moves into the Hab and begins making a plan for survival.
As a botanist and mechanical engineer, Watney first cultivates the soil so that he can grow
his own food supply, as he estimates that he’ll need to survive for at least four
years before rescue.
He mixes Martian soil with Earth soil and then plants potatoes.
Watney succeeds in adding water to the atmosphere and to the soil, but then he realizes that
the atmosphere is filling with hydrogen, which could explode if charged.
He figures out a solution to burn away the extra hydrogen, but there is a small explosion.
Fortunately, everything is intact and he is successful in stabilizing the air.
Back on Earth, the world mourns the loss of Watney.
However, after viewing a few satellite photos, NASA officials realize that Watney is still
alive.
The announcement is made to the world and NASA turns all of its resources to trying
to get Watney back home safely.
Watney figures that his best way to be rescued is to travel to the location of the Ares 4
mission to Mars.
It’s far away so he begins running tests on how he will get there.
He enhances one of the rovers with solar panels and a radioactive power supply.
Watney leaves the Hab and heads toward the Pathfinder, a space probe, which he can use
to communicate with Earth.
After repairing the Pathfinder, Watney is able to communicate with Earth through a camera.
He establishes a communication system using letters and numbers.
NASA develops a plan to use the Sojourner, a rover, to communicate and so Watney can
communicate more freely.
Watney slowly updates the operating system and it works.
A message is sent to the rest of the Ares 3 crew on their trip back to earth that informs
them that Watney is alive.
Then one day, the Hab's airlock chamber begins to leak and it is sucked out into the Martian
landscape along with Watney and some supplies.
Then he hears a hissing sound.
The airlock is leaking and so he repairs it as best as he can.
His helmet is also cracked so he fixes it with the sleeve of his suit.
After nudging the airlock toward the deflated Hab, Watney quickly evaluates the damage,
grabs a new helmet, and makes it to a nearby rover.
He believes he can repair the Hab, but all of the soil bacteria are dead, which means
his farm is done.
NASA works on sending food to Watney and so they use a probe from another mission and
quickly get it ready for launch.
However, during the launch, the systems malfunction and the probe doesn’t make it.
The Chinese space program, who has secretly been building its own space probe, decide
to offer it to NASA for political favors.
NASA experts plan on sending the Chinese probe with food to Mars again, although it might
mean that Watney would starve for a while.
However, someone suggests that the crew of the Ares 3 assist in recovering the Chinese
probe and redirecting it to Mars, which would risk the lives of the crew and require Watney
to travel to the Ares 4 landing site on Mars.
NASA directors decide to just send the Chinese probe, but an email to the Ares 3 crew contains
the rejected plan and the crew decides to do it themselves.
The commander shifts the course of their spacecraft and NASA is forced to prepare for the risky
operation.
After Watney learns of the new plan, he prepares for his journey to the Ares 4 location.
He begins drilling holes into the rover to allow him to attach the required life-support
machines.
However, as he is drilling, the drill gets fried, which damages the Pathfinder; thus,
he can’t communicate with NASA.
Watney hooks up the two rovers together and loads more solar panels on the rover to ensure
that he has enough power each day.
NASA officials travel to China to meet the Chinese space program officials and prepare
for the launch of the probe.
The probe is launched and it successfully docks with the spacecraft of the Ares 3 crew.
Watney runs some tests to see if his equipment can handle being attached to the rover and
leaves for the Ares 4 location.
Meanwhile, the NASA experts discover that Watney will have to deal with a large dust
storm, which will lower the efficiency of his solar panels.
Watney’s journey starts off well.
He makes it past two of the significant landmarks, but then gets lost.
After figuring out his location using latitude and longitude, he quickly learns that he is
in a dust storm and must come up with a plan to escape.
Watney escapes the storm by heading south and eventually gets back on track.
As he is making his final descent toward the Ares 4 location, the rover and trailer flip
over.
After uprighting the vehicles, Watney makes it to the MAV at the Ares 4 site and closes
the door.
Watney spends the next several days dismantling the unnecessary equipment on the MAV so it
can fly high enough for him to be rescued.
The MAV is then launched remotely and Watney passes out as he climbs higher through the
Mars atmosphere.
The crew of the Ares 3 discovers that they are traveling at the wrong speed and so to
adjust the ship to the right speed, they blow up a bomb at the nose of the ship.
The bomb sets the ship to the right speed and the crew prepares to rescue Watney.
In the end, Watney is saved and the entire world celebrates his rescue.