MovieChat Forums > Mars (2016) Discussion > Before going onto episode 4, some clarif...

Before going onto episode 4, some clarifying questions, please

posted 8 years ago by calbruin2
5 replies | jump to latest

To date, I have watched through the current episode 3.

I am confused about some points since episode 1.

• If they overshot their intended landing site by 75km, then why stay the manufacturing site, albeit closer?
Assuming I have the story straight, they land 75km away from target of the habitat site. Their spaceship is damaged so cannot use as shelter as intended. So they venture to the manufacturing site which is closer. OK that makes sense.
But, when loading the vehicle for travel, they worried about being over the weight limit. Uh, why do that in the first place? Load only oxygen, a couple day's food, and go. Come back for the rest of the gear and equipment when settled at temporary digs?

Next, 75km is not a plenty walk, but motorized vehicle, can be done within a day. 75km ~ 75-90mins motorizing. Add an hour or two for the uneven terrain they must travel, that is well under 4-5 hours travel time by the Mars car. In fact, they can move faster because their vehicle weighs less on Mars than on earth.

• Ok, they are at the manufacturing site. Their team leader/pilot/mission commander died.
Why are they staying there instead of heading to the habitat site?

Also, I am confused as to how depended they were on their landing spaceship to serve as habitat support. With or without their landing module, they are in the same position no matter where they stay, at the manufacturing site or the habitat site.

If there are answers and I missed explanation, then reference to me via time index where I may learn the answers.

Thank you.

[–] jbg926 8 years ago

The terrain was obviously extremely rugged and possibly not completely mapped. Therefore they could not get there in 75-90 min. As they said in the episode, they had to travel 10-15 kph to conserve energy as well as ensure safety of those on board and the rover itself.

I am unsure of exactly why they continued to stay there, but they did have much of the necessary equipment there (drones, 3d printer, water condenser thing, atmospheric machines..etc). So it appeared that while small, they didnt then need to head to the main HQ...not sure why either exactly. Or perhaps its a plot hole of sorts.

[–] cashmccall 8 years ago

Also, if they were at the temporary site and had only 100 days of power and food left, how did they go the lava tube, barely get to the bottom, then fast forward to having a whole new high end, very large expertly built habitat with green house and out buildings ready for new people coming much later? What did I miss here?

[–] RickVS 8 years ago

I thought the same thing. Where were they hiding everything?

When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all. -God

[–] RickVS 8 years ago

I thought the same thing. Where were they hiding everything?

When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all. -God

[–] Naldoman 8 years ago

Apparently you weren't paying attention to anything but how tight the spacesuits were.

1) The ship they landed in was loaded with supplies for the first 8 months. During those 8 months, they would use the manufacturing site to search for a suitable lava tube for a permanent settlement. This is what the drone search was about.

2) The vehicle was not designed to take all-day trips across Mars. They were lucky it even got to the drop ship, let alone made it most of the way back. They carried as much as possible because the manufacturing plant didn't have all the supplies the ship did.

3) Finding the lava tube was needed for a habitat protected from harsh radiation from the sun that Mars' thin atmosphere doesn't absorb like ours on Earth does. Once they found a site, they deployed the geodesic domes and such in the tube. It would take weeks/months to set up, but the objective is to have a safe place.

4) Nuke plant and solar panels are still on the surface. FOUR YEARS HAVE PASSED by the time that fancy set of domes is there in Ep. 4. That means at least 2 more sets of ships have landed with crews, plus other ships with supplies. The Ares-nauts had to build the dome settlement.

5) The next stage is expansion - more power, more people, more plants to grown food, recycle air, etc.

Yes, everything is exaggerated to show that any of Mars' dangers can be FATAL to the crews AND to the support from Earth.

=== Are you skipping past the 2016 explanations of the science behind the mission? ===