LOG ENTRY: SOL 387 (Dec. 7, 2036) The pop tent is 1.2m tall. It’s not made for comfort. It’s made for astronauts to cower in while their crewmates rescue them. I want 2 meters. I want to be able to stand! I don’t think that’s too much to ask. On paper, it’s not hard to do. I just need to cut canvas pieces to the right shapes, seal them together, then seal them to the existing canvas and flooring. But…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 385 (Dec. 5, 2036) The worst part of the Pathfinder trip was being trapped in the rover. I had to live in a cramped environment that was full of junk and reeked of body odor. Same as my college days. Rim shot! Seriously though, it sucked. It was 22 sols of abject misery. I plan to leave for Schiaparelli 100 sols before my rescue (or death), and I swear to fucking God I’ll rip my own face…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 383 (Dec. 3, 2036) You may be wondering what I do with my free time. I spent a lot of it sitting around on my lazy ass watching TV. But so do you, so don’t judge. Also, I plan my trip. Pathfinder was a cake run. Flat, level ground all the way. The only problem was navigating. But the trip to Schiaparelli will mean going over massive elevation changes. I have a rough satellite map of the…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 381 (Dec. 1, 2036) I’ve been thinking about laws on Mars. Yeah, I know, it’s a stupid thing to think about, but I have a lot of free time. There’s an international treaty saying no country can lay claim to anything that’s not on Earth. And by another treaty, if you’re not in any country’s territory, maritime law applies. So Mars is “international waters.” NASA is an American non-military organization, and it owns the Hab. So while…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 380 (Nov. 30, 2036) I finished the heat reservoir. Remember my experiments with the RTG and having a hot bath? Same principle, but I came up with an improvement: Submerge the RTG. No heat will be wasted that way. I started with a Large Rigid Sample Container (or “plastic box” to people who don’t work at NASA). I ran a tube through the open top and down the inside wall. Then I coiled it in the bottom…

Chapter 20 LOG ENTRY: SOL 376 (Nov. 26, 2036) I’m finally done with the rover modifications! The hard part was figuring out how to maintain life support. Everything else was just hard work. A lot of hard work. I haven’t been good at keeping the log up to date, so here’s a recap: First I had to finish drilling holes with the Pathfinder-murderin’ drill. Then I chiseled out a billion little chunks between the holes. Ok, it was 749 but…

Okay, here’s the (not so) fun part. For the next five-ish months, we’re not gonna hear from Watney and friends. I know, it’s sad. I’ll miss them too. Posts will pick back up on November 26 (more than a year after we started, can you believe it?) In the meantime… keep talking about Mars! I’m gonna try to watch the movie at least once, but if you don’t want to spoil the ending, you might want to avoid that. I…

Jun. 11, 2036 (Sol 213) “Welcome to Jiuquan,” Guo Ming said. “I hope your flight was smooth?” Su Bin translated Guo Ming’s words as Teddy took the second-best seat in the observation room. “Yes, thank you,” Teddy said. “The hospitality of your people has been wonderful. The private jet you arranged to bring us here was a nice touch.” “My people have enjoyed working with your advance team,” Guo Ming said. “The last month has been very interesting. Attaching an…

Chapter 19 Jun. 10, 2036 (Sol 212) “Hey, Melissa…” said Robert. “Am I getting through? Can you see me?” “Loud and clear, babe,” said Commander Lewis. “The video link is solid.” “They say I have 5 minutes,” Robert said. “Better than nothing,” Lewis said. Floating in her quarters, she gently touched the bulkhead to stop drifting. “It’s nice to see you in real-time for a change.” “Yeah,” Robert smiled. “I can hardly notice the delay. I gotta say, I wish…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 211 (Jun. 9, 2036) I am smiling a great smile. The smile of a man who fucked with his car and didn’t break it. This is considerably more rare than you might think. I spent today removing unnecessary crap from the rover and trailer. I was pretty damn aggressive about it, too. Space inside the pressure vessels is premium. The more crap I clear out of the rover, the more space there is for me. The more…