I just read this 2012 novel, and enjoyed it immensely.

Without wanting to give too much away, the plot involves an accident, survival and rescue on Mars. It mainly takes the form of a personal log of a botanist/mechanic who gets left behind. At times it seems a bit clunky but really it does read very much like an engineer’s blog: probably most critics would not consider it great literature but to me it rang true. The author does not waste much time on emotional backstories etc: this is a story mainly about physics, chemistry, mechanical and electrical engineering, botany and physiology. I think most ppl here would enjoy it.

It is not entirely clear when it is set: there is no new technology, basically, so it is clear not set far in the future.

The basic Mars Mission involved an ion drive powered craft that permanently ran a cycle between Mars and Earth. New crews would ascend with propellant and supplies, old crews would drop to earth. When the craft, the Hermes, reached Mars, it would drop the fresh crew and a lander. They’d return about a month later using an Ascent Vehicle powered by fuel processed locally.

There were a few points that struck me as odd or unlikely: *The extensive use of N2 tanks in the EVA suits. N2 is basically baggage. They use as little as possible in real life. *He grew his potatoes under the internal lights of the Hab but used agriculture statistics based on outdoor earth growing. Most people don’t realise the great contrast between ordinary office or residential lighting and sunlight, but plants do: sunlight is about 100 times brighter than indoor lighting. Unless the Hab packed extremely bright lighting for some reason, his potato yields would be poor. *At one point he says that food contains hydrocarbons and then goes on to talk about sugars. Hydrocarbons ain’t carbohydrates… *SPOILER: it seems unlikely to me that the rescue mission would be mounted at all. I think if someone got left behind they’d be shit out of luck. NASA would say “we are very sorry, we’ll take good care of your family” and switch off your comms.

I read it and didn’t mind it, but found it incredible unbelievable ..

yes, the rescue mission wouldn’t have been mounted, but then again, if you remember, it wasn’t

Was he on the space toilet when got left behind ?

Well yeah it only happened because of sabotage and mutiny but even then… I just can’t see five astronauts doing that, or even being able to. Call me a selfish git but I am not going to put five lives in a shitstorm of jeopardy and privation to save one person.

They used a rotating craft for Hermes, rather than the tethered-balast rotation of the Zubrin-Baker plans.

Cymek said:

Was he on the space toilet when got left behind ?

He was not.

hard to discuss the book without spoilers..

Dropbear said:

hard to discuss the book without spoilers..

Well just put up big SPOILER ALERTS.

Apparently it going to be made into a movie starring Matt

dv said:

Apparently it going to be made into a movie starring Matt

Damon or Smith

Cymek said:

dv said:

Apparently it going to be made into a movie starring Matt

Damon or Smith

Finish I think.

I liked the Red, Green and Blue Mars books by Kim Stanley Robinson, heavy going though

Finish I think.

ugh, a musical then.

…Damon.

you need to be fearless with these kinds of library books DV, give them no quarter – they expect none. the library expects you to do it as of late with the rise of the future it’s a ghost of itself, long bookshelves a repository of old ladies filth and a place for PWM to do his business in.

don’t be afraid to use the texter liberally , pretend you are some government covering his arse and wiping the truth away, I’ve ripped out whole chapters of science fiction books from the library when I felt they over stepped the credibility mark. I would say though you should leave some explanation for the missing pages eg

pages 122 – 154 inefficient and unlikely use of nitrogen gas

the next reader will thank you for it.

Ripper story, very cleverly done.
All the equipment is pretty much what we have these days so it’s largely plausible. I found it a bit too convenient that the main character has the two main abilities that would help him survive though. He seemed more than clever enough to be able to work out the food side of things so I would have been happier to have him be a geologist instead.

Spiny Norman said:

Ripper story, very cleverly done.
All the equipment is pretty much what we have these days so it’s largely plausible. I found it a bit too convenient that the main character has the two main abilities that would help him survive though. He seemed more than clever enough to be able to work out the food side of things so I would have been happier to have him be a geologist instead.

He’s an engineer and a ?

Ignore that previous post it says in the OP what he is

Cymek said:

Spiny Norman said:

Ripper story, very cleverly done.
All the equipment is pretty much what we have these days so it’s largely plausible. I found it a bit too convenient that the main character has the two main abilities that would help him survive though. He seemed more than clever enough to be able to work out the food side of things so I would have been happier to have him be a geologist instead.

He’s an engineer and a ?

A botanist, from memory. So he’s able to fix & modify all the machinery, and also plan how to grow food.
I reckon it was just a bit too convenient.

OKI I’ll order it but won’t read this thread on account of spoilers.

wookiemeister said:

you need to be fearless with these kinds of library books DV, give them no quarter – they expect none. the library expects you to do it as of late with the rise of the future it’s a ghost of itself, long bookshelves a repository of old ladies filth and a place for PWM to do his business in.

don’t be afraid to use the texter liberally , pretend you are some government covering his arse and wiping the truth away, I’ve ripped out whole chapters of science fiction books from the library when I felt they over stepped the credibility mark. I would say though you should leave some explanation for the missing pages eg

pages 122 – 154 inefficient and unlikely use of nitrogen gas

the next reader will thank you for it.

Basically all my reading is on Kindle now.

I wouldn’t mind reading Phil Plait’s review of it but it seems he has not written one.

> Most people don’t realise the great contrast between ordinary office or residential lighting and sunlight, but plants do: sunlight is about 100 times brighter than indoor lighting. Unless the Hab packed extremely bright lighting for some reason, his potato yields would be poor.

I don’t agree about sunlight vs indoor lighting. We tried growing micro-algae at CSIRO under both normal fluoro tubes and expensive fluoro tubes specifically made for growing indoor plants (purple light). They grew well with cheap fluoro tubes but died under the more expensive lighting. So give the potatoes enough fluoros and they should thrive.

Mars Rover Finds Stronger Potential for Life
By MARC KAUFMANDEC. 8, 2014

A panoramic view of the surface of Mars from the Curiosity rover. Mount Sharp can be seen in the distance. Credit NASA

For lifeless chemical compounds to organize themselves into something alive, scientists generally agree, three sets of things must be present:

■ Standing water and an energy source.

■ Five basic elements: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus and nitrogen.

■ And time, lots of time.

In its search for environments where life might have started on Mars, the Curiosity rover has found the standing water, the energy and the key elements with the right atomic charges. As a result, scientists have concluded that at least some of the planet must have been habitable long ago.

Read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/science/-stronger-signs-of-life-on-mars.html