The Martian and Philip Plait's "Bad Astronomy"

In chapter 24 of Bad Astronomy, Philip Plait breaks down his top ten bad examples of astronomy in movies and TV.

 1. Plait's first example is one of the most common concepts done wrong in Hollywood movies. This mistake is that their is sound in space. In order for sound to travel it has to have something to go through. On earth we are able to hear because the vibrations that produce sound are transferred from the atoms in the air to our ears. So in space, because their is nothing for the vibrations to be transferred to, no sound would be able to be perceived in space. We see this violated in The Martian when Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is blasting out of Mars' atmosphere.


2. Example 2 doesn't apply to The Martian because it deals with the perception of asteroid fields in movies being extremely dense and that isn't a problem that appears in the movie.

3. In this example Plait uses the example of space crafts making sharp turns in order to redirect the trajectory of their ship. This is unrealistic because in order to have any drag to turn their must be air and again there's an obvious lack of air in space. The Martian actually does this "turning around" correct in the movie. In order to change the direction of the ship the crew fired thrusters in the opposite direction of the direction the were headed, effectively redirecting them without actually steering the ship around.

4, 5, 6, 7. Example 4 also does not apply to The Martian because it deals with the idea of dodging laser weapons which The Martian unfortunately lacks. Example 5 and 6 also do not apply because they deal with the topic of light speed space travel and the necessity of Earths water which are concepts more seen in sci-fi films that are less realistic in nature. Example 7 doesn't apply because it deals with sci-fi heroes getting stuck in the gravity of planets in which they have to "escape" which is a problem not discussed in The Martian.

8. In example 8, Plait talks about the common misconception that in space travel you would visibly be able to see the passing of stars and planets as you navigate space. The Martian does a great job in displaying the magnitude of  space where we see the Hermes (space craft) flying through space but the stars in the background are not moving dramatically almost giving off the appearance of the ship not moving at all.

                                          
   

           (couldn't find better scene accessible through youtube, but clip briefly shows Hermes navigating through space.)         
9, 10. Examples 9 and 10 are also not applicable to The Martian. Example 9 discusses giant explosions in space which are not present in the movie, and example 10 deals with the unrealistic portrayal of the moons phases in movies.

Using the ISMP movie rating system I give The Martian a GP because the physics for the most part are very true to life.



Comments

  1. Prof. Chris FragileNovember 17, 2019 at 1:18 PM

    You weren't meant to take the "Bad Astronomy" rules so literally. For instance, the need for water did play some role in the movie, as did gravity. And there was an explosion, when they purposefully blew the air lock to slow the Hermes down.

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