This week is the premiere of the science fiction movie “The Martian” starring Matt Damon in the lead role. He plays there astronaut Mark Watney who was left behind on Mars after a dust storm.
The film is based on the novel The Martian Andy Weir often compared to a survival guide for Mars. And even if the book is science fiction, it was the author’s ambition to everything that was described would be technically possible to achieve for Mark Watney using the equipment left by expedition to Mars.
Nasa have pointed to nine advanced technology solutions in the movie, as they themselves have been involved in developing and therefore are in reality.
first Home.
Abandoned astronaut Mark Watney spend much time in March Housing – “The Hab”.
NASA Johnson Space Center has built a similar “home”, Hera, where astronauts can train for long trips in space. Hera is a two storey dwelling with several rooms, where space travelers get to train themselves to live together in complete isolation from the outside world.
2. Greenhouse.
Astronauts on the ISS have food sent to them, but to send food to Mars is impossible because it would take nine months. So an astronaut on Mars must cultivate vegetables on their own.
In the film grows Mark Watney potatoes inside his residence “the Hab ‘ . NASA’s real astronauts have so far succeeded in growing lettuce on board the ISS.
third Water treatment.
In the movie, the astronauts extremely careful of their water. A water recycling systems are widely used.
The ISS is the real astronauts as carefully. Not a drop of sweat, tears and urine are wasted, assures NASA. All water is recycled and filtered through the recycling system WRS, the Water Recovery System. One of the astronauts reported to have said: “Yesterday’s coffee will be tomorrow’s coffee.”
The part of the WRS system that manages the urine consists of a centrifuge for distillation because gases and liquids can not be separated in the same way as on Earth.
4th Oxygen production.
In the film, Mark Watney all the time with their own oxygen. And he creates his oxygen at home in “the Hub” with the help of carbon dioxide from its Marsbil.
The ISS uses the real rymdfararna itself by electrolysis to split the water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen atoms.
5th Space Suits.
The film’s March Watney takes long walks and works hard in his space suit, which places tough demands on the suit.
NASA is already in the process of developing a space suit for use right on Mars, which requires trade-offs in the use of hard composite material and flexible fabric to get the durability and flexibility.
6th Moon buggy.
The film uses Watney a MAV, Mars Ascent Vehicle, and transport. Nasa is working to similar vehicles, which should be able to navigate their way in the tough terrain. NASA vehicle called MMSEV, the Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle.
7th Ion engines.
The film uses the space shuttle Hermes ion engines for the trip to and from Mars.
NASA is now developing a new ion engine, Next, NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster, 7 kW. They use a powered microwave to heat the noble gas xenon to a very high temperature where the gas is ionized and form a plasma that is ejected from the engine and giving momentum.
8th Solar panels.
The film uses both the space shuttle and Mark Watney solar panels for their electricity.
And so does the ISS, which has four panels with a capacity of between 84 and 120 kW of electricity.
9th RTG
In the movie, the crew bury the plutonium-based RTG generator is far from “the Hab ‘for cases where it would leak. RTG, which stands for Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator is an electricity generator that uses the heat from radioactive decay.
NASA has developed RTG’s for use during space flight for decades. They were used during the Apollo trip to the moon, and in the car Curiosity that landed on Mars in summer 2012. The RTGs used on Curiosity generates about 110 watts of electricity.
Do not Miss New Technique’s article entitled” The progress that takes us closer to Mars’.
It has amazing graphics!
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