Andy, I love you & The Martian. I read it the week I got married and then went to Kennedy Space Center on my honeymoon as a direct result of reading your book. I can't wait to read Zhek and I apologize for how many questions I'm about to ask, but I spend a lot of time thinking about the world of The Martian. Also, I'll tag this as [SPOILERS] for people who haven't read the book.
*1. Did Mark ever consider scavenging Ares I or Ares II sites for communications parts or supplies? Or were they too far away? (Farther than Pathfinder and Ares IV sites?) *2. What do you think the review board would look like/determine in the outcome of the mission? Have you read the Apollo 13 report? What do you think the major Ares III report would conclude? Specifically the mutiny of the Hermes and the failure of the resupply launch? *3. How much would private contractors contribute to an Ares mission? With 14 pre-supply missions, 4 supply runs to prep the Hermes, and getting the crew to the Hermes, would there be a fair amount of collaboration? *4. How do you see the crew getting to and from the Hermes? *5. How long would the crew have been in orbit aboard the Hermes before they left for Mars on 7/7/35? *6. There is a 164 Sol time-jump at one point (Sol 211 - Sol 376) where Mark has lost communications with earth again and is making rover mods. Have you ever thought about writing a short story like the missing mission logs for that time or something? What was he doing, what about the crew of the Hermes? Surely something interesting must have happened in those 5 and a half months. *7. What do you think some of the health implications of Mark and the crew's prolonged mission were? Do you think they broke the world record for time spent in space? Would they have permanent bone damage? What about vision problems and elevated radiation exposure? Will they all get cancer later in life? *8. Will any of the crew ever go to space again or will they be grounded for health/political reasons? *9. What's next for Mark when he gets home? I feel like with all that experience he'd have to work for NASA designing missions or planning for contingencies or training future astronauts? Or would be write books and travel the world giving motivational speeches? A little of both? *10. Did Mark sing happy birthday with Curiosity on it's birthday? Would NASA have programmed Curiosity to sing happy birthday for Mark too? *11. Could the Hermes have survived micro meteorites and solar flares? *12. Is 2mm/s2 the Hermes maximum acceleration? What would happen if there was some damage and they were no longer able to maintain that acceleration? Could your computer model handle variable accelerations? *13. Would the loss in mass of the argon make a difference over the life of the mission (2 yrs 5 mos) or the added mass of the resupply or Mark? Enough to impact orbital dynamics at all? *14. Is the ISS still around in 2037 you think? *15. I know you said you don't want to do a sequel because you felt like any more problems with the mission would be unbelievable. But I always felt like you set it up so well for the return journey. There are a lot of things that have already been established as issues, could you knot address those and maybe just one or two new, cascading, issues? Like the hot bunks, obviously there is something wrong with the cooling system, that could lead to other problems. There is also the VAL breech, which has the potential to cause a lot of other problems later, right? *16. Did you ever anticipate random strangers on the internet spending this much time thinking about your book?
And now for some questions that are not specifically The Martian related.
*17. I read something about a year ago from you that said you were doing a lot of research for your next book, which was supposed to be another hard science book. Later you said your pitch about a Moon Base was shot down, so you moved on to Zhek. I know Zhek will probably be a series, so there's not a lot of hope, but do you think you'd get to write the Moon Base hard scifi someday? And would you be willing to speak a little about what your idea was? I am desperate for more hard science fiction and I think it's a shame about the Moon Base idea, I thought it sounded really interesting (and you did all that research!). *18. How is Zhek going? I know you missed the initial deadline of Aug 1 due to all the publicity you're doing for The Martian and it's pushed up release date (I personally thought a Nov release date would have been appropriate considering the timeline of the book), but how are you doing now? Will the delay cause the estimated publish date to be pushed back at all? *19. How does it feel to have our own Wikipedia) page? *20. Say hi to your cat, JoJo, for me.
Sorry for the million and one questions. I've been saving them up for a while and I keep missing your other AMAs so when I heard about this, I wanted to be prepared.
I love the way NASA has been promoting the book and movie. I like to think that in 2037 there will be a special Mark Watney day at NASA. I hope they are able to ride the coattails of the your and the movie's success to get more funding and actually make it to Mars. I just think it's so amazing that something one nerd did might actually have an impact on the future of manned space flight. You are a gift
And now for the obligatory personal anecdote about how much your works have touched my life. I was a really big science nerd when I was younger but then in college I sort of burnt myself out and switched from a BS to a BA and have regretted it ever since. My current profession has nothing to do with my innate love of science, and since your book has rekindled (pun) that passion in me I've actually been considering a career change. Thank you for writing a book that has touched so many lives. And it's a pleasure watching your interviews because I feel like I get a little more Mark each time.
TL;DR I'm obsessed with your book and can't wait for more from you. Fan for life.