Every time a space movie comes out that involves NASA and other world space agencies, I have the same thought: In recent years, we’ve somehow lost our sense of wonder about space flight — about the fact that we, as a species, are regularly sending human beings off the planet entirely. And, ideally, bringing them back.
And that, of course, is the story at the heart of The Martian, the terrific new science-fiction film from director Ridley Scott, opening today in theaters. It’s a good weekend movie option for anyone, but I’d contend it’s a must-see for any self-respecting technology nerd. (Caution: Mild spoilers ahead.)
The gist, in case Hollywood’s planetary marketing machine somehow missed you: Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is left stranded on Mars when the rest of his crew is forced to leave without him. With any potential rescue mission years away, at best, Watney must improvise and manage resources to survive on his own in an environment that is lethal to all known forms of life. (Unknown forms of life, as you may have recently read, are another matter.)
Has there ever been a sci-fi movie this exhilarating where the tension is generated not by space battles or alien invasion but by math and technology? Watney basically crunches numbers throughout the film to overcome dilemmas that, if his equations are wrong, will kill him. In one very funny scene, he attempts to generate water in molecular fashion by burning hydrogen and adding oxygen. It’s as dangerous as it sounds, and Watney comes out the other end looking like Wile E. Coyote after another failed Acme scheme.
Over and over, the characters in the film solve problems with hard science. Back on Earth, the NASA team collaborates with the Chinese space agency to mount an unlikely rescue mission. Their common currency isn’t language, and it certainly isn’t politics. It’s math and science and a shared understanding of the fundamentals of technology.
Like 2013′s Gravity — also excellent — The Martian effectively communicates how instantly lethal the universe is outside of our precious membrane of planetary atmosphere. One literally chilling scene shows what happens when organic material is subjected to Martian atmosphere. It’s not pretty. The idea that we’re able (and willing) to go into space at all is final evidence of humankind’s mad courage.
The work done by NASA should be celebrated, and it is — at the movies.
In real life, though, NASA has been criminally underfunded for years. (IMHO, as the young people say.) As a percentage of overall U.S. spending, funding for NASA peaked in 1965 at 4.31 percent. Estimated 2015 number: 0.47 percent. In the U.S., more money is spent annually on pizza than on funding our space agency.
The makers of The Martian worked closely with NASA on the new film, and it shows. I spoke to a representative at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center this week, and he said general consensus at the agency is that the movie gets its scientific conjecture straight. And its politics. Several key scenes involve familiar terrestrial matters of budgeting, PR, and public policy. There’s some barely obscured propaganda, as well. The film goes out of its way to declare that, unlike the Chinese space program, NASA is a civilian agency, publicly funded and bound by laws regarding transparency and ethics. But, hey — just because it’s propaganda doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
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