Fun space fact: perchlorates are one of the two reasons why The Martian can't happen as written/filmed. Martian soil is loaded with them. This was only discovered after the book was written. Local soil would have to be decontaminated before growing crops on it.
The other reason is that the wind storm at the start simply can't happen. Thanks to the thin Martian atmosphere, the strongest storms on Mars have about the force of a gentle summer breeze on Earth. The average cardboard box would make a stormproof bunker on Mars.
Neither takes away from the story in my opinion. It's really about mental health and problem-solving in adverse condition, not technical nitpicks.
I remember the wind storm being pointed out at the time and the author being like “Look, I know, but I needed a reason for him to be stuck on Mars, give me a break”
Does Mars have seismic activity? Maybe a marsquake could trigger a landslide that fucks up the spacecraft instead? idk
Given it was a Sorkin project, he probably would have made Russian hackers crash a satellite orbiting Mars into the NASA crew in the surface if they didn't want the storm thing
I'm absolutely willing to overlook that for the sake of genuinely good science fiction. Especially when the story is about an astronaut with a realistic mindset and problem-solving approach. Out of all the NASA astronauts in fiction I've seen or read about, Mark Watney is by far the most psychologically realistic. He's exactly the sort of person that NASA selects for.
Poisoning the Earth under pretenses of an escapist dream to colonize a far more thoroughly poisoned Mars
Aren't perchlorates notoriously strong oxidizers? How are they stable enough to just be in food?
While none of the foods we tested had acutely dangerous levels of perchlorate, some did have enough that several servings of a food could add up to potentially hazardous levels.
Over time, dozens of small exposures accumulate the chemical in your body at dangerous concentrations.
This is how we get to Mars isn’t it?
Falcon fuel is people… FALCON FUEL IS PEOPLE!
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
