'The Martian' author takes JSC by storm … without the dust

He came in peace, we took him to our leader and there were no reported invasions.
 
Andy Weir—whose gripping bestseller “The Martian” has quickly become a favorite of NASA team members and millions of other Earthlings—made a special appearance during Mars Week 2015 at Johnson Space Center.
 
Ironically, the self-described super geek and lifelong space dork with an avid love of spaceflight and exploration has a crippling fear of flying. But he vowed to travel from California by train, car or bus—whatever it took—to get to JSC.
 
“That’s how much I’m afraid to fly, and that’s how much I wanted to come here,” Weir said.
 
Ultimately he flew to Houston, turning down a trip to Budapest to watch principal filming scenes on the set with director Ridley Scott and lead actors Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain.
 
Weir spent four days exploring notable facilities at JSC, learning about the technologies that may get us to—and sustain us on—Mars. Highlights included tours at the Food, Robotics, Virtual Reality, Meteorite and Neutral Buoyancy Labs, in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility to see space station and Orion mock-ups and with the Advanced Wearables (spacesuits), Human Exploration Research Analog and Morpheus Project teams.
 
Weir called the experience “the best week of my life so far,” and summed up his time with the briefers as: “Sheer. Unmitigated. Awesomeness.”
 
Although he said he was in “nerdvana” at every stop, the Mission Control Center (MCC) has a distinct place in his heart, since flight operations are especially cool to him. Weir was impressed with the amount of integration and teamwork required in space station operations. He said it was useful information, because he’s pitching a TV pilot that revolves around the MCC—specifically the mission controllers and flight directors. The fact that they have call signs is “narrative gold” in terms of storytelling.
 
Another highlight was a discussion about theoretical propulsion systems and warping space prototypes in experiments currently being conducted with the Advanced Propulsion team. Weir found the term “non-negative results” interesting, in that the findings can’t fully be explained, but they can’t be refuted either.
 
As part of Mars Week events, Weir was celebrity judge for the Innovation Charge Account elevator pitches, where employees had about a minute to propose their inventive ideas to possibly obtain funding. This year’s theme was, appropriately, “Seeking Revolutionary Technology to Enable Mars Exploration.”
 
By all accounts, Weir’s impressive grasp of technical knowledge was matched by his enthusiasm. Although he spent 25 years as a computer programmer, beginning at age 15, for Sandia National Laboratories, he yearned to be a writer. The leap from writing code to writing science fiction surprisingly wasn’t such a stretch. Inspired by his particle physicist father and authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein, Weir spent his formative years just hours from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where another revered novelist, Ray Bradbury, declared “We are The Martians” following NASA’s Viking 1 spacecraft landing on Mars.
 
A lucrative severance package in the 1990s allowed Weir time to pursue his passion for writing, and he slowly built an audience of fellow “super geeks” who helped propel the popularity of “The Martian.” No longer getting rejection notices once the novel hit Amazon’s Top 10 list for science fiction, agents—both literary and film—began to seek him out. Soon after he had a book deal, and the movie rights were sold to 20^th Century Fox, resulting in an upcoming film with an all-star cast. Weir said that “it was like someone sprinkled fairy dust on this book.” His work literally took flight when the script was flown on the Orion spacecraft during its first flight test last December.
 
At the heart of “The Martian” is lead character Mark Watney, a resourceful astronaut who’s stranded on Mars after a thwarted mission. His innate problem-solving skills and quick-witted sense of humor become necessary traits to survive alone on the rust-colored planet, millions of miles from home.
 
As Weir commented during his talk on April 28, who knew that “duct tape is magic and should be worshipped?” Um … check that—we’re at NASA, after all.
 
The story captures the spirit of exploration, learning from failure and the triumph over challenges. And, if Watney couldn’t figure it out? Then “that problem just doesn’t happen in the book,” Weir joked.
 
The parallels in the book of NASA’s missions and the planning we are undertaking to send humans to Mars have resonated with the space community. As a treat for all JSC employees, Weir took to the Teague stage to deliver his talkMARS presentation, and the workforce turned out strong.
 
JSC Director Dr. Ellen Ochoa introduced Weir and said that “The Martian” has a familiar storyline. She pointed out several aspects of the book that are analogous to NASA mission training.
 
“The focus on Watney and what was happening on the ground in Houston is a very realistic scenario of what we go through when we train crew members and flight controllers who must quickly analyze a situation and prioritize tasks,” Ochoa said. “Resiliency is probably the single most important characteristic to have as an explorer, and Watney proves to be extraordinarily resilient.”
 
She also appreciated the humor of the book, “even if it was at the expense of 1970s culture that I grew up with in college.”
 
Weir summed up Watney’s initial predicament by reading the first chapter of his book, where it describes the feeling of being left for dead on Mars with no communication and seemingly insurmountable odds of survival in an unforgiving environment. “So yeah ...” He’s in a pickle.
 
Weir did a lot of research for “The Martian,” but admits there are inaccuracies. For instance, the soil wouldn’t be able to grow potatoes, even with help from some Earth—and Watney’s—“soil.” And, the atmosphere on Mars does not have enough inertia to damage anything.
 
“Even a 150-km-an-hour sandstorm on Mars would feel like a one-mile-per-hour breeze on Earth,” Weir said. “But this is a man versus nature story, and I wanted nature to get the first punch in.”
 
When Weir was asked how he had so accurately captured Watney’s character and other NASA personalities in the book, Weir said he did his own research using the Internet and watching every space documentary and interview he could find while drawing from his work environment at Sandia Labs and projecting it onto NASA. He noted that the first time he had actually met an astronaut was the day he arrived at JSC.
 
Last stop on Weir’s agenda was a wrap-up of Mars Week, featuring the talkMARS presentations by Doug Littekin, Ron Sostaric and Doug Ming, and a closing reception with something Watney may never want to eat again: potato chips.
 
When asked if he would change anything about the book as a result of his meetings with JSC experts, Weir said, “I’m learning that the technology NASA is working on now is more advanced than the fictional technology that I thought was unreasonably advanced.”
 
“The stuff they’re doing with ion propulsion now—workable plans, not theoretic physics—are considerably better; triple the acceleration than the ion propulsion system for Hermes [the spacecraft in the book],” Weir said. “And the spacesuit design system, which keeps the astronaut alive, are more advanced than depicted. They don’t even need expendable carbon dioxide filters anymore.”
 
Weir’s hope for NASA is that we continue to work on getting to Mars someday using ion propulsion, saying it is “key to interplanetary travel.” And even though there are obstacles that exist, he’s a fan of centripetal artificial gravity development, because he believes it’s a more effective method for exercise regiments during long-duration spaceflight and habitation.
 
Weir said his visit at JSC was “a nerd dream come true,” and “the most ‘awesomeness’ days of my life.” He just may have added a new word to the English lexicon in the process.
 
So what’s next for Weir? He’s already working on his next novel—this time with an alien component. Should that one be optioned for a movie, it looks like he already knows an experienced director.

 
Laura Rochon
Johnson Space Center



As an added Red Planet bonus, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of “30 Minutes to Mars,” featuring NASA Planetary Science Division Director Dr. Jim Green and NASA astronaut Stan Love. They explore steppingstones to Mars and what a crew might experience on the surface.

The #JourneyToMars continues, leading up to “The Martian” movie debut in November. Look for exciting Mars-related events in the months to come, including a feature story on current and future NASA technologies that may get us there!