Tag Archives: The Martian

Protecting Mars astronauts from space radiation

Posted on October 1, 2015 by rburnham

On Aug. 7, 1972, in the heart of the Apollo era, an enormous solar flare exploded from the sun’s atmosphere. Along with a gigantic burst of light in nearly all wavelengths, this event accelerated a wave of energetic particles. Mostly … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Ares 3 landing site: fact meets fiction

Posted on September 30, 2015 by rburnham

Andy Weir, the author of the best-selling novel “The Martian,” had previously contacted the HiRISE team requesting that we take a picture of the Ares 3 landing site from his novel in Acidalia Planitia, within driving distance from the Pathfinder … Continue reading →

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Fact & fiction of Martian dust storms

Posted on September 21, 2015 by rburnham

For years, science fiction writers from Edgar Rice Burroughs to C. S. Lewis have imagined what it would be like for humans to walk on Mars. As mankind comes closer to taking its first steps on the Red Planet, authors’ … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Ares 3 landing site: ‘The Martian’ revisited

Posted on April 17, 2015 by rburnham

We previously released an image near the Ares 3 landing site from [the novel] The Martian by Andy Weir. Andy then sent us the exact coordinates, which we targeted, and this is it. The closeup shows some wind-blown deposits inside … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Ares 3 and ‘The Martian’

Posted on March 12, 2015 by rburnham

In The Martian [a novel] by Andy Weir (watch for the movie in late 2015), stranded astronaut Mark Watney spends most of his time at the “Ares 3” site in southern Acidalia Planitia. The book describes Acidalia as flat and … Continue reading →

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