English 8 Newspaper Article
The Martian
Science Fiction
Broadway Books
2014
Paperback
369
Alone on Mars
Astronaut dead on Mars, now alive?
by Journalist Carson Oerman, Sol 53
Yesterday, Astronaut Mark Watney, who was thought to have died on Mars on only the sixth day of the Ares 3 mission, has been found alive. Mark was left on Mars because he was thought to be dead, but the latest satellite images request that Mark is alive. The satellite images were taken to see if the Hab was still intact (which it was) and to see if Mark’s body could be seen. Although Watney is alive, NASA has no way to communicate with him or give him enough food to survive.
“I first noticed that the Hab was intact and then I saw that there were rover pop-tents set outside the Hab,” said Mindy Parks from SatCom. Parks told us that her first idea was to check if Commander Lewis had set out the tents before the liftoff but there was nothing on the Commander’s mission log. Venkat Kapoor, from NASA, then came and looked at the satellite pictures and was curious. Again, their first thought was that Commander Lewis set out the pop-tents but there was nothing in the logs. After Parks told Kapoor, “Did I mention I never found the body,” everyone in the building was silent.
With tension growing within NASA, Kapoor stated, “We have to find a way to communicate with Mark first.” If NASA can communicate with Mark they will be able to talk with him about a rescue plan. The Ares 3 crew took 4 communication systems with them to Mars, but three of the four were in the MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle) and the other system broke off from the Hab in the sandstorm on Sol 6. After 12 hours NASA’s communication experts couldn’t find any way to communicate with Mark.
NASA then decided to start working on what they called the space pirate rescue plan. Kapoor’s first thoughts were, “We could have the Ares 4 crew bring him back. We talked to the Ares 4 crew and they were totally fine with it.” The only problem about that is that the Ares 4 mission won’t be ready for another 3 to 4 years and by calculations, Mark won’t have enough food to survive unless he can farm on Mars. This brought the next problem, the soil on Mars is not farmable, and the fastest NASA can get food on Mars is not for another year, but Mark is a botanist.
Finally, if everything works perfectly there might be a slight chance that Watney can be saved. NASA said they are doing everything that they can do find a way to communicate with Mark and bring him home. As Teddy Sanders, Director of NASA, said in his speech yesterday, “We will notify you if anything else comes up that could help us with bringing Mark Watney home.”
