Behind the science of The Martian

1. BEHIND THE
SCIENCE OF
THE MARTIAN
SIDDHARTH

2. ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. He has directed,
among others, the science fiction films Alien, Blade Runner and The
Martian, the road crime film Thelma & Louise, the historical drama film
Gladiator, and the war film Black Hawk Down.
Born on 30 November 1937, in England.
Scott was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 2003 New Year Honours
for services to the British film industry.
He has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Directing—
Thelma & Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down—as well as a
Golden Globe Award, British Academy Film Award and two
Primetime Emmy Awards.
Ridley and his brother Tony received the BAFTA for Outstanding
British Contribution To Cinema.

3. ABOUT THE MOVIE
The Martian is a 2015 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott
and starring Matt Damon. Drew Goddard adapted the screenplay
from the 2011 novel The Martian by Andy Weir. The film depicts an
astronaut's lone struggle to survive on Mars after being left behind,
and the efforts of NASA to rescue him and bring him home to Earth.
It also stars Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Chiwetel
Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel
Hennie, Mackenzie Davis, Donald Glover, and Benedict Wong.
Produced through 20th Century Fox, the film is a co-production of
the United Kingdom and the United States. Producer Simon Kinberg
began developing the film after Fox optioned the novel in March
2013, which Drew Goddard adapted into a screenplay and was
initially attached to direct, but the film did not move forward. Scott
replaced Goddard as director, and with Damon in place as the main
character, production was approved. Filming began in November
2014 and lasted approximately seventy days. Twenty sets were built
on one of the largest sound stages in the world in Budapest,
Hungary. Wadi Rum in Jordan was also used for exterior filming.
● $630 million worldwide, becoming Scott's highest-grossing film to date,
as well as the 10th-highest-grossing film of 2015.
● The Martian received praise for its direction, visual effects, musical
score, screenplay, scientific accuracy, and likability, largely due to
Damon's performance. It received several accolades, including the
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy,
seven nominations at the 88th Academy Awards, including Best Picture
and Best Adapted Screenplay for Goddard, and the 2016 long form Hugo
Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Damon won the Golden Globe
Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and was
nominated for several awards including the Academy Award for Best
Actor, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the
Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor.

4. PROCESS OF FILMMAKING
● Author Andy Weir’s book The Martian is a stroke of sci-fi genius. The novel does for space adventure fans
what the softcore romance novel does for jilted lovers. It’s a true love letter to science — space escapism
at its best.
● When the novel was first published, NASA invited Weir to tour the Johnson Space Center and Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. When Scott began preparing the film, Weir contacted NASA to collaborate on the
film.
● The rockets, modules, and space suits were built — and 3-D printed — with heavy guidance from NASA.
● The filmmakers even hired Rudi Schmidt, former project manager of the European Space Agency’s Mars
Express spacecraft, to test all the experiments done in the movie, including turning water into rocket fuel

5. PROCESS OF FILMMAKING
● Jim Green, head of NASA’s planetary science program. Green, the space agency’s one-time “Mars czar”
and current overseer of robotic solar system exploration, also served as a consultant on The Martian.
● Filmmakers turned a six-wheeled industrial crop sprayer into a massive Mars rover that looks like a
beefed-up version of the one NASA’s Desert RATS use to play space explorer on test missions in the
Arizona desert. The filmmakers drove their rover in the studio and then flew it to Jordan, where they shot
Damon romping across the desert.
● Jim Green and his team of NASA scientist researched and experimented for months to make the Mars look
realistic.

6. SCIENCE INACCURACIES IN THE FILM
● The windstorm that sweeps astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) away is a false start
because while Mars does have winds, its atmosphere is barely 1% of the density of Earth’s,
meaning it could never whip up anything like the fury it does in the story.

7. SCIENCE INACCURACIES IN THE FILM
● Gravity on Mars is ⅓ of gravity on Earth. Even while wearing all your astronaut gear, you
wouldn’t ‘feel’ that heavy, but in one particular scene, Mark is seen exerting himself while
climbing a ladder. Climbing a ladder, or even walking around, would require much less
exertion on Mars due to its lesser gravity as compared to Earth.

8. SCIENCE INACCURACIES IN THE FILM
● Radiation is a serious problem for a Martian mission. Once astronauts leave Earth’s magnetic field,
they risk receiving large doses of radiation from solar flares and cosmic rays. Much of the
radiation can be stopped with a few sheets of plastic, but the more potent particles would require
a lot more shielding. The movie spacecraft is spacious, with lots of windows. Unless a new way of
shielding the crew from radiation had been discovered, this design seems unfeasible.

9. SCIENCE ACCURACIES IN THE FILM
● Mars soil is actually quite fertile because of the presence of more nitrate and
nitrogen in the red soil as proved by NASA in 2015 by growing lettuce in that red
soil.

10. SCIENCE ACCURACIES IN THE FILM
● The Martian Human Habitat in the movie very closely resembles NASA's
Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA).

11. SCIENCE ACCURACIES IN THE FILM
● As in the Movie, the Martian Human Habitat has to
generate Oxygen because Mars doesn’t have Oxygen.
Similarly, On the ISS, astronauts and cosmonauts
have an Oxygen Generation System. In the movie they
use an "oxygenator," a system that makes O2 using
the carbon dioxide from a fuel generator. But in
reality the process is different, keeping the
atmosphere breathable using electrolysis, which
splits water molecules into their component oxygen
and hydrogen atoms.

12. CONCLUSION
The Martian movie is a great example of scientific collaboration with filmmaking, Sir Ridley Scott is a
legendary filmmaker with such impressive creative potential. Although the movie uses a lot of fake
theories, some of which we presented to dramatise the film, to attract more audience and to support the
narrative. But it is also true that there are many inspiration in this movie taken from real life
experiments and research and helps are being taken from actual scientist and doctors and this movie
gives us a hope that we can achieve the dream of going to Mars.

13. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. https://time.com/4055413/martian-movie-review-science-accuracy-matt-
damon/
2. https://www.scienceabc.com/humans/movies/movie-science-how-
scientifically-accurate-is-the-martian.html
3. https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.5.9047/full/
4. https://www.astronomy.com/bonus/martian
5. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/can-plants-grow-with-mars-soil/
6. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/
7. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000631/
8. ‘The Martian’ Movie.

14. Thank You.