There were many problems that botanist-astronaut Mark Watney encounters when he is left behind on Mars after he was presumed dead during a violent dust storm. The odds are increasing stacked against him as he first realizes that he has a food supply to last roughly 300 days. Sounds like plenty of nutriment until he figures out that the next Mars mission is 1400 days away. The first real problem that Watney faces is getting enough food (and water for that matter) to last that long. But, how do you grow years’ worth of food on a planet in which food growth isn’t possible? Thank goodness our story’s protagonist is a botanist and applies his knowledge of science to assist him with his food supply concerns. As Watney so cleverly states, “Mars will come to fear my botany powers”.
The resolution of this particular problem is that Watney fashions a makeshift farm inside the Hab using a combination of Martian soil fertilized with human waste. He knows the recipe for water (add hydrogen and oxygen, then burn them). He extracts hydrogen from the leftover rocket fuel but since everything NASA sends to space is flame retardant, Watney finds fellow astronaut Martinez’ Catholic cross and uses it to ignite the fire. Then he plants the potatoes on board that was intended for
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He calculates a plan to drive the rover to recover the Pathfinder probe (which hasn’t been used since 1997). He solves this conflict by figuring out he can use the lander’s camera to send pictures back to Earth of written messages he writes. NASA notifies Watney to alter the rover so it can link with the Pathfinder so they will be able to communicate back and forth through text messages. Another problem that arises is that the Hab’s airlock system glitches causing it to explode and destroys Watney’s potato crop. He still has access to the potatoes that have already grown, but he is not able to produce any new