Understanding Movie Physics: The Martian

A Discussion About The Martian and the Reality of Space

The Martian tells the story of an unfortunate man, portrayed by Matt Damon, who had been presumed dead and left stranded and alone on Mars. Through his own wit and ingenuity, he was able to survive long enough to make contact with NASA and make a plan for his return to Earth.  While Matt Damon's character faced one disaster after another over the course of the entire movie, he eventually made it home and now teaches a class about the dangers of space and how to survive it for young aspiring astronauts.

Compared to other science fiction movies, the space physics in  The Martian were relatively accurate by comparison. Referencing a list of Hollywood sci-fi space physics written by Philip Plait, we can make a good inference on how well The Martian stands as a model for good space physics.

1. Whoosh! Our Hero's Spaceship Comes Roaring Out...
• For the first of Plait's examples of proper space physics, he explains that one should not hear the "whooshing' or roar of a space engine in space as sound waves have nothing to travel on in the vacuum of space. Unfortunately, this is a rule that the movie breaks a lot. Look at the rescue scene for example, the audience is able to hear the quoted "whooshing" of the space crafts and the blowing of the oxygen coming out of Matt Damon's suit as he uses it to propel himself towards the Hermes.
2. ...of a dense asteroid field...
• According to Plait, the actual distance between asteroids in the asteroid belt is like a grain of sand divided up and spread up over hundreds of square meters. It would be very rare to actually come across an asteroid by this comparison! However, since there was an absence of asteroids in the movie, this rule cannot be applied to the movie.
3. ...banks hard to the left...
• Plait states that banking and turning sharply in space is quite unrealistic as there is no air in space for the such action to occur. In order to actually change direction, they need to enact some kind of propulsion such as a rocket firing in the opposite direction of where you want to go in order to actually maneuver in space. Examples of this in the movie is the crew increasing the speed of the Hermes as it entered Mars' orbit in order to be able to reach Matt Damon.
4. ...and dodges laser beams from the Dreaded Enemy...
• Plait states that you would not be able to see laser beams in space, but since laser beams were not a concept portrayed in The Martian then this rule need not be discussed.
5. ...who have come from a distant galaxy...
• In this section, Plait discusses the scale and sheer size of space in which the movie does a good of presenting this by discussing the lengths of the trip from Earth to Mars such as the scene where the Hermes crew members are discussing whether or not to go back to Mars for Mark, Matt Damon's character, and how many days it would add to their trip or any scene where the NASA members were discussing a trip to Mars as time and distance was major factor of their planning! As for enemies, this topic is irrelevant as no invading aliens were ever present.
6.  ...to steal all of Earth's precious water...
• Plait discusses reasons for an alien invasion, mainly the presence of water on Earth,  but again enemy aliens were not part of the movie so this rule can be ignored when analyzing The Martian. But Plait is not wrong when he states that there are other sources easier to access and harvest water from other than Earth.
7. The Dreaded Enemy tries to escape Earth's gravity, but is caught like a fly in amber
• Escaping Earth's gravity was never really concern in the movie, but Mars' gravity was an issue. Since Mars has a weaker gravitational pull than Earth it would be easier to break its gravitational pull. However, even though Mark needed to rocket himself off Mars in order to be rescued, he didn't need to escape its gravity. He only needed to be propelled far enough away from the planet so he could enter orbit, so technically this rule was not broken.
8. As stars flash by...
• Plait states in this section that space is so vast and stars are so far away that your movement or position in space would not effect how you perceived them. It also discusses warp speed and traveling at or faster than the speed of light and the concept that you see stars whiz by like the environment on Earth passing by as you drive a car in many sci-fi movies is false, but since such a form of space travel is not seen in the movie, this rule does not apply.
9. ...Our Hero gets a lock on them and fires! A huge ball of expanding light erupts past us, accompanied by an even faster expanding ring of material as the Dreaded Enemy's engines explode.
• There aren't any explosions in space portrayed in the movie, so this rule is irrelevant,
10. Yelling joyously, Our Hero flies across the disk of the full moos, with the Sun just beyond.
• In his final example, Plait discusses the inaccuracy of the phases of the Moon and that the Sun must be in between the Moon and Earth according to some sci-fi movies and how their phases are shown. This is rule is not broken since the Moon or any of its phases are seen in the movie.

In conclusion,  I would rate The Martian with a PGP. It presented most of the physics that applied to it pretty well, but there were some instance that it violated the rules of space physics that keep it from getting a higher rating.