December 1, 2016 8:00 pm

Friday, Neil deGrasse Tyson explores Mars with Andy Weir

Shall we talk about Mars? The red planet has been getting more intriguing to the general public since Spirit and Opportunity landed there in 2004, followed by a huge growth in awareness around the landing of the Curiosity rover in 2012. But there is no doubt that Mars has gotten a big boost in interest thanks to the outstanding success of Andy Weir’s 2011 novel, The Martian, along with the 2015 feature film adaptation, starring Matt Damon, which racked up 7 Oscar nominations.

But more than just fanning the flames of Martian popularity, the novel and film have put the “science” back in science fiction.

As Neil deGrasse Tyson says about The Martian in Friday’s episode, Surviving on Mars, with Andy Weir, Mark Watney did not survive on “the usual wit, prayer, and hope” but by famously ‘sciencing the s**t out of everything.’

Of course, StarTalk has discussed Mars before. Just a few examples: our two-part episode featuring Packing for Mars author Mary Roach, cleverly titled Packing for Mars (Part 1) and Packing for Mars (Part 2); our StarTalk Live! episode Satisfying Our Curiosity about Mars that celebrated the landing of the Curiosity rover; our episode about Mars One, Colonizing Mars with Bas Lansdorp; Putting Humans on Mars, with Mike Massimino; and our 2-part StarTalk Live! episode from SF Sketchfest featuring Andy Weir and Dr. Jim Green, the Director of the Planetary Science division at NASA whose job is to manage the exploration of our solar system.

Friday’s episode is a great addition to the long list of fantastic Mars-themed episodes in our canon, and once again brings Andy Weir and Jim Green back to StarTalk.

During his interview with Neil, Andy Weir guides us through the creation of The Martian and the parameters he set for himself to stay scientifically accurate. Although, as we find out on the show, Andy didn’t get everything right: his launch calculations were off by 2% and his dust storm wouldn’t have had the force required to do the damage it did due to Mars’ lower atmospheric pressure.

In addition to Weir and Green, Neil and co-host Matt Kirshen also talk to in-studio guest Adam Steltzner, the NASA/JPL engineer who led the “Entry, Descent, and Landing” team for the Mars Curiosity rover and who talks about its famous “7 minutes of terror” landing. They also speak to Sheyna Gifford, a crewmember at HI-SEAS, the Mars simulation habitat in Hawai’i, to help give a sense of what human space travel and survival on Mars will really look like.

It’s not a surprise that exploring Mars will be dangerous. But what’s exploration without danger?

You’ll find out about the numerous challenges humans face for surviving on Mars including, but not limited to, exploding eyes caused by catastrophic losses of air-pressure, the abundance of carbon dioxide, solar radiation, inert “soil” for crops and other problems with growing food. Plus, Mars is pretty far away from Earth – 140 million miles, on average – making timely rescue, resupply, or other forms of assistance challenging.

On a lighter note, a fan poses the age-old question: how long can a Mars Bar survive outside on Mars? You’ll also hear online trip reviews of other planets, Neil’s kindergarten “origin story,” and find out what Matt is talking about when he calls Neil someone’s favorite “chocolate scientist.”

Chuck Nice once again takes to the streets of NYC, this time searching for people willing and eager to take the one-way trip to Mars, and Bill Nye offers a new perspective on how important stories like The Martian are as inspiration to advance us to the next frontier.

Join us for Surviving on Mars, with Andy Weir this Friday, December 2 at 7pm EST right here on our website, or on iTunesPodcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher and TuneIn. If you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can listen to this episode ad-free – and also to Neil’s extended interview with Andy.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Ian Mullen