Mark Watney Sparknotes

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As readers we can notice the book is written as multiple journal entries of the hard-fought times of stranded botanist and engineer Mark Watney. The journal entries make the novel more personal and grips us into the adventures of astronaut Watney.
The plot begins in the year 2035, where the lives of crew members from the Ares 3 mission are in danger as an approaching sandstorm can trap them there permanently and the crew is ordered to take off with immediate effect. We learn that Mark Watney was hit by a loose antenna and was thought to be trapped and dead on Mars. His crewmates make the difficult decision to abandon any search efforts.
However, Watney survived and has been found to have minor injuries. The book begins to tell us the different challenges Watney must overcome with his new life in the Hab through logs written by Watney. Watney begins to adapt the philosophy of "work the problem", using this mentality to solve various …show more content…

The main person at NASA vetoes the idea of this new plan as he believes it will only danger the other crew members, but Henderson the chief of the mission secretly emails the details to Hermes the escaped space ship from mars. The crew all agrees to help the final member of their crew.
Watney begins again with modifications on the rover, as the newly developed rescue plan requires him to lift-off from Mars in the Ares 4 Mars ascent vehicle (MAV). During the process of modifying the rover Watney accidentally shorts the power from the pathfinder, his only communication with earth.
After Watney leaves to retrieve the Ares 4 MAV, NASA detects a major sand storm that is going to interrupt the journey of Watney but they are unable to warn him. The solar cells that power the rover will not be as effective in the sand storm and this also puts in the danger of the power left in his life-support

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