THE MARTIAN, Week Two

DAILY QUESTIONS: 

CHAPTER 8 

The story in this chapter takes place on Earth. In the previous chapter, Mark describes his Sirius operations 1-4. While the details of  the first three are revealed, the nature of Sirius IV is yet to be told. So, according to Ch.8, what is the purpose of Sirius 4? 

The objective of Sirius 4 is to find Pathfinder, and scavenge its components for communication.  

The higher-ups decide not to tell the Ares 3 crew  that Mark is still alive. But the general public at this point is already aware that he is.  Where are the crew members now and how is it possible that they have no access to such information as regard to Mark's current status? 

The crew members now are on Hermes, still carrying out all sorts of research tasks in space. At first I thought there must be some sort of censorship on the information sent up to Hermes, and this speculation proves to be correct. 

CHAPTER 9 

Mark is now on his path to find the Pathfinder, and of course, he finds it. (Duh!) So, the questions for today are: why is navigation tricky? And how does he overcome this issue? 

The Hab's range of signal is only 40km, making it impossible for Mark to rely on when he sets off on his long trip. And with Mars being a barren planet, he also doesn’t have landmarks for visual references. Instead, he uses a satellite for navigation so he doesn’t stray from his path. An ancient technique indeed. Later, when he is about to reach the location of Pathfinder, the landscape becomes more distinguishable, and the track he has left behind can also be used as reference when he is on the return trip.  

CHAPTER 10 

CHAPTER 11 

Communication is now set up. But there's a slight problem. At first, all communications are done through a camera, but why can’t Mark use the alphabet to "receive" messages but have to resort to a seemingly more complex system? 

The camera can rotate 360 degrees, but if he puts up 27 cards around it, the angle between each card is too small, so he is much less likely to tell precisely what letter the camera is pointing at. Then he uses the ASCIII, or whatever system, with fewer symbols means wider spaces, and thus more likely to identify the message. 

Mitch is going to tell the crew the news that Mark is still alive. If you haven't read ahead, what do you think their reactions will be? 

They would be devastated because they would realize that they have left him behind, all alone on a wasteland, to die. 

CHAPTER 12 

Chapter 12 takes us back to the time before everything went south, both for Mark and the remaining crew members. What do think about Lewis, the Commander, more specifically, her heroism and, later, deep remorse? 

Just in one chapter, Commander Lewis demonstrates her unparalleled capability of making tough decisions. As the leader of the crew, she is responsible for the safety of all the members, even it means put her own life at risk when she tries to save Watney, however slim the hope of his survival seems at that moment. And she doesn’t stop trying to look for him until the very last possible moment. Later, when the whole crew is informed that Watney is still alive, she doesn’t share the enthusiasm of her members; instead, she blames herself because she has failed her job to protect him and left him to die. In other words, she is in a way responsible for killing him. 

This chapter also answers a question I asked a couple of days ago, remember? 

Yes. I'm asking all these questions after all. 

CHAPTER 13 

Following the extreme intensity of Ch.12 is the seemingly tranquility of Ch. 13. But you can't possibly expect that Mark would wait happily ever after until Ares 4 arrives. In fact, the most horrifying event, so far anyway, takes place in this chapter; what is the event, and what's the cause of it? 

The most horrifying event so far in that the Hab breached. The hab has been essential for Watney's survival. Now with its collapse, he is homeless. This event is caused by the failure of the material used to assemble the airlock. Because the carbon in it has be endure both pressure from outside and repeated stretching during compression and decompression, it simply couldn’t handle such stress and decides to crack.