Fantastic Fungi Fundamentals 

     

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The Martian by Andy Weir

Miranda Hu 

Summary: 

          On the Ares 3 mission to mars, astronaut Mark Watney and his crew experience a sandstorm which made them abort their mission early. The MAV(mars ascent vehicle) as well as the satellite dish was destroyed and punctured a hole into Watney’s suit causing him to bleed from his side, because of this, his crew believes that he is dead and leaves him behind. With no communication with NASA or the ship, he makes a plan to survive until he is rescued by rationing his food and growing potatoes which NASA has given the crew with the soil that he brought from Earth and the soil from Mars inside the Hab.


Critiques:

           This book is a fiction young adult novel. In the book, the perspectives change from Mark Watney to his crew at NASA which shows the readers both perspectives of the story. This book has also demonstrated a lot of the struggles and emotions of Watney by using first person. Furthermore, it shows a variety of creative ways in how the young astronaut problem solves his way to survival. I would recommend this book to those who like adventure and space, the way this book tells the story is real and original.


Connections to the Course:

          In this topic, we learn about the diversity of living things and the anatomy, growth and function of many different plants. Our newspaper is primarily about fungi. The book “The Martian” by Andy Weir relates heavily to this unit. In chapter 5 Sol 39, Mark Watney used the soil he collected from Earth mixed with the soil from Mars and started growing potatoes in the Hab and setting the temperature to 1 degrees celsius because ‘soil bacteria are used to winters. “This sort of thing happens on Earth all the time. They can survive a couple of days this way. If you’re wondering how bacteria on Earth survive longer periods of cold, the answer is they don’t. Bacteria from further underground where it is warmer breed upward to replace the dead ones”(Weir, 40) . In chapter 6, Watney used solar cells  and battery power to produce heat and his power source. “I have over 100 square meters of the most expensive solar paneling ever made. It has an Astounding 10.2 percent efficiency, which is good because Mars doesn’t get as much sunlight as Earth” (Weir, 67). To be able to grow food in space, the temperature needs to be carefully monitored, which is what Watney did. In chapter 'Furthermore', he saves all his urine and feces as manure for the potato farm in chapter 9 sol 79. “Even more precious is my manure. It’s critical to the potato farm, and I’m the only source on Mars”(Weir, 95).


          Relating to growth of plants in space. Fungi growth can take place in space as well, in Antarctica, there are fungi that live inside rocks which have managed to survive a year and a half in low-Earth orbit under the condition on Mars. An experiment was done to show that fungi can grow, decompose food and other ‘organic materials in humid conditions’.