Broadway Books

Product Description

In the Classroom Edition of The Martian:?

Classroom-appropriate language
Discussion questions and activities
Q&A with Andy Weir

Six days ago?? astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now?? he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead?? Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he??s alive?and even if he could get word out?? his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are?? though?? he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery?? unforgiving environment?? or plain-old "or" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity?? his engineering skills?and a relentless?? dogged refusal to quit?he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Amazon.com Review

8 Tips for Surviving on Mars from Andy Weir

So you want to live on Mars. Perhaps its the rugged terrain beautiful scenery or vast natural landscape that appeals to you. Or maybe youre just a lunatic who wants to survive in a lifeless barren wasteland. Whatever your reasons there are a few things you should know:

1: Youre going to need a pressure vessel.

Marss atmospheric pressure is less than one percent of Earths. So basically its nothing. Being on the surface of Mars is almost the same as being in deep space. You better bring a nice sturdy container to hold air in. By the way this will be your home forever. So try to make it as big as you can.

2: Youre going to need oxygen.

You probably plan to breathe during your stay so youll need to have something in that pressure vessel. Fortunately you can get this from Mars itself. The atmosphere is very thin but it is present and its almost entirely carbon dioxide. There are lots of ways to strip the carbon off carbon dioxide and liberate the oxygen. You could have complex mechanical oxygenators or you could just grow some plants.

3: Youre going to need radiation shielding.

Earths liquid core gives it a magnetic field that protects us from most of the nasty crap the sun pukes out at us. Mars has no such luxury. All kinds of solar radiation gets to the surface. Unless youre a fan of cancer youre going to want your accommodations to be radiation-shielded. The easiest way to do that is to bury your base in Martian sand and rocks. Theyre not exactly in short supply so you can just make the pile deeper and deeper until its blocking enough.

4: Youre going to need water.

Again Mars provides. The Curiosity probe recently discovered that Martian soil has quite a lot of ice in it. About 35 liters per cubic meter. All you need to do is scoop it up heat it and strain out the water. Once you have a good supply a simple distillery will allow you to reuse it over and over.

5: Youre going to need food.

Just eat Martians. They taste like chicken.

6: Oh come on.

Al