Chapter 8
“Joining us today is Dr. Venkat Kapoor, director of Mars operations for NASA. Dr. Kapoor, thank you for coming.”
“A pleasure to be here, Cathy,” Venkat said.
“Dr. Kapoor,” Cathy said, “Mark Watney is the most-watched man in the solar system, wouldn’t you say?”
Venkat nodded. “Certainly the most watched by NASA. We have all twelve of our Martian satellites taking pictures whenever his site’s in view. The European Space Agency has both of theirs doing the same.”
“All told, how often do you get these images?”
“Every few minutes. Sometimes there’s a gap, based on the satellite orbits. But it’s enough that we can track all his EVA activities.”
“Tell us about these latest EVAs.”
“Well,” Venkat said, “it looks like he’s preparing Rover 2 for a long trip. On Sol 64, he took the battery from the other rover and attached it with a homemade sling. The next day, he detached fourteen solar cells and stacked them on the rover’s roof.”
“And then he took a little drive, didn’t he?” Cathy prompted.
“Yes he did. Sort of aimlessly for an hour, then back to the Hab. He was probably testing it. Next time we saw him was two days later, when he drove four kilometers away, then back. Another incremental test, we think. Then, over the past couple of days, he’s been stocking it up with supplies.”
“Hmm,” Cathy said, “most analysts think Mark’s only hope of rescue is to get to the Ares 4 site. Do you think he’s come to the same conclusion?”
“Probably,” Venkat said. “He doesn’t know we’re watching. From his point of view, Ares 4 is his only hope.”
“Do you think he’s planning to go soon? He seems to be getting ready for a trip.”
“I hope not,” Venkat said. “There’s nothing at the site other than the MAV. None of the other presupplies. It would be a very long, very dangerous trip, and he’d be leaving the safety of the Hab behind.”
“Why would he risk it?”
“Communication,” Venkat said. “Once he reaches the MAV, he could contact us.”
“So that would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?”
“Communication would be a great thing. But traversing thirty-two hundred kilometers to Ares 4 is incredibly dangerous. We’d rather he stayed put. If we could talk to him, we’d certainly tell him that.”
“He can’t stay put forever, right? Eventually he’ll need to get to the MAV.”
“Not necessarily,” Venkat said. “JPL is experimenting with modifications to the MDV so it can make a brief overland flight after landing.”
“I’d heard that idea was rejected as being too dangerous,” Cathy said.
“Their first proposal was, yes. Since then, they’ve been working on safer ways to do it.”
“With only three and a half years before Ares 4’s scheduled launch, is there enough time to make and test modifications to the MDV?”
“I can’t answer that for sure. But remember, we made a lunar lander from scratch in seven years.”
“Excellent point.” Cathy smiled. “So what are his odds right now?”
“No idea,” Venkat said. “But we’re going to do everything we can to bring him home alive.”
■■■
Mindy glanced nervously around the conference room. She’d never felt so thoroughly outranked in her life. Dr. Venkat Kapoor, who was four levels of management above her, sat to her left.
Next to him was Bruce Ng, the director of JPL. He’d flown all the way to Houston from Pasadena just for this meeting. Never one to let precious time go to waste, he typed furiously on his laptop. The dark bags under his eyes made Mindy wonder just how overworked he truly was.
Mitch Henderson, the flight director for Ares 3, swiveled back and forth in his chair, a wireless earpiece in his ear. It fed him a real-time stream of all the comm chatter from Mission Control. He wasn’t on shift, but he was kept apprised at all times.
Annie Montrose entered the conference room, texting as she walked.
Never taking her eyes off her phone, she deftly navigated around the edge of the room, avoiding people and chairs, and sat in her usual spot.
Mindy felt a pang of envy as she watched the director of media relations.
She was everything Mindy wanted to be. Confident, high-ranking, beautiful, and universally respected within NASA.
“How’d I do today?” Venkat asked.
“Eeeh,” Annie said, putting her phone away. “You shouldn’t say things like ‘bring him home alive.’ It reminds people he might die.”
“Think they’re going to forget that?”
“You asked my opinion. Don’t like it? Go fuck yourself.”
“You’re such a delicate flower, Annie. How’d you end up NASA’s director of media relations?”
“Beats the fuck out of me,” Annie said.
“Guys,” Bruce said, “I need to catch a flight back to LA in three hours. Is Teddy coming or what?”
“Quit bitching, Bruce,” Annie said. “None of us want to be here.”
Mitch turned the volume down on his earpiece and faced Mindy. “Who are you, again?”
“Um,” Mindy said, “I’m Mindy Park. I work in SatCon.”
“You a director or something?”
“No, I just work in SatCon. I’m a nobody.”
Venkat looked to Mitch. “I put her in charge of tracking Watney. She gets us the imagery.”
“Huh,” said Mitch. “Not the director of SatCon?”
“Bob’s got more to deal with than just Mars. Mindy’s handling all the Martian satellites, and keeps them pointed at Mark.”
“Why Mindy?” Mitch asked.
“She noticed he was alive in the first place.”
“She gets a promotion ’cause she was in the hot seat when the imagery came through?”
“No.” Venkat frowned, “she gets a promotion ’cause she figured out he was alive. Stop being a jerk, Mitch. You’re making her feel bad.”
Mitch raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t think of that. Sorry, Mindy.”
Mindy looked at the table and managed to say, “?’kay.”
Teddy entered the room. “Sorry I’m late.” He took his seat and pulled several folders from his briefcase. Stacking them neatly, he opened the top one and squared the pages within. “Let’s get started. Venkat, what’s Watney’s status?”
“Alive and well,” Venkat said. “No change from my e-mail earlier today.”
“What about the RTG? Does the public know about that yet?” Teddy asked.
Annie leaned forward. “So far, so good,” she said. “The images are public, but we have no obligation to tell them our analysis. Nobody has figured it out yet.”
“Why did he dig it up?”
“Heat, I think,” Venkat said. “He wants to make the rover do long trips. It uses a lot of energy keeping warm. The RTG can heat up the interior without soaking battery power. It’s a good idea, really.”
“How dangerous is it?” Teddy asked.
“As long as the container’s intact, no danger at all. Even if it cracks open, he’ll be okay if the pellets inside don’t break. But if the pellets break, too, he’s a dead man.”
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” Teddy said. “JPL, how are the MDV plans coming along?”
“We came up with a plan a long time ago,” Bruce said. “You rejected it.”
“Bruce,” Teddy cautioned.
Bruce sighed. “The MDV wasn’t made for liftoff and lateral flight. Packing more fuel in doesn’t help. We’d need a bigger engine and don’t have time to invent one. So we need to lighten the MDV. We have an idea for that.
“The MDV can be its normal weight on primary descent. If we made the heat shield and outer hull detachable, they could ditch a lot of weight after landing at Ares 3, and have a lighter ship for the traverse to Ares 4. We’re running the numbers now.”
“Keep me posted,” Teddy said. He turned to Mindy. “Miss Park, welcome to the big leagues.”
“Sir,” Mindy said. She tried to ignore the lump in her throat.
“What’s the biggest gap in coverage we have on Watney right now?”
“Um,” Mindy said. “Once every forty-one hours, we’ll have a seventeen-minute gap. The orbits work out that way.”
“You had an immediate answer,” Teddy said. “Good. I like it when people are organized.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I want that gap down to four minutes,” Teddy said. “I’m giving you total authority over satellite trajectories and orbital adjustments. Make it happen.”
“Yes, sir,” Mindy said, with no idea how to doit.
Teddy looked to Mitch. “Mitch, your e-mail said you had something urgent?”
“Yeah,” Mitch said. “How long are we gonna keep this from the Ares 3 crew? They all think Watney’s dead. It’s a huge drain on morale.”
Teddy looked to Venkat.
“Mitch,” Venkat said. “We discussed this—”
“No, you discussed it,” Mitch interrupted. “They think they lost a crewmate. They’re devastated.”
“And when they find out they abandoned a crewmate?” Venkat asked. “Will they feel better then?”
Mitch poked the table with his finger. “They deserve to know. You think Commander Lewis can’t handle the truth?”
“It’s a matter of morale,” Venkat said. “They can concentrate on getting home—”
“I make that call,” Mitch said. “I’m the one who decides what’s best for the crew. And I say we bring them up to speed.”
After a few moments of silence, all eyes turned to Teddy.
He thought for a moment. “Sorry, Mitch, I’m with Venkat on this one,” he said. “But as soon as we come up with a plan for rescue, we can tell Hermes . There needs to be some hope, or there’s no point in telling them.”
“Bullshit,” Mitch grumbled, crossing his arms. “Total bullshit.”
“I know you’re upset,” Teddy said calmly. “We’ll make it right. Just as soon as we have some idea how to save Watney.”
Teddy let a few seconds of quiet pass before moving on.
“Okay, JPL’s on the rescue option,” he said with a nod toward Bruce. “But it would be part of Ares 4. How does he stay alive till then? Venkat?”
Venkat opened a folder and glanced at the paperwork inside.
“I had every team check and double-check the longevity of their systems. We’re pretty sure the Hab can keep working for four years.
Especially with a human occupant fixing problems as they arise.
But there’s no way around the food issue.
He’ll start starving in a year. We have to send him supplies. Simple as that.”
“What about an Ares 4 presupply?” said Teddy. “Land it at Ares3 instead.”