The Martian

Year: 2015
Genre: Science Fiction
Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig, Michael Pena, Benedict Wong, Donald Glover
Production: 20th Century Fox

Dear Congressman,
I write this letter as a concerned citizen, a science enthusiast and a movie buff in the hopes that my words will inspire you and the rest of Washington to make a fundamental change in the way the sciences are funded. In the years leading up to the Apollo missions, NASA spent $25.4 billion dollars achieving the impossible: putting 12 men on the moon. Since 1972 NASA's budget has shrunk to its current levels; $17.6 billion or .5% of the total federal budget. In spite of these constraints NASA has made over 1,000 unmanned missions across space including: sending satellites to all of the planets in our solar system,  launching a deep space telescope capable of peering into the vastness of space, landing multiple probes on Mars, and sending three different crafts into deep space. Yet for us to achieve what both George W. Bush and Barack Obama wanted to accomplish, i.e. have a manned mission to Mars, more attention must be given to the funding of the sciences and NASA specifically.

I draw your attention to the recently released film The Martian starring Matt Damon as Mark Watney as a marooned astronaut forced to live more than a year on Mars until NASA can come up with a rescue plan. In addition to being a riveting film with many strong performances, the movie showcased workable, functional technology that can exist today if only we had the willpower. The movie portrays a rotating wheel space station using centripetal acceleration to create artificial gravity. Such a station is possible and has been design by NASA via the Nautilus-X. Then there's the Mars land vehicle featured in the film; similar to the Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle also designed by NASA. These designs among others are possible but they need the funds and the tireless moxy of scientists and engineers to make it all work in real life.

While the problem solving abilities of the films characters seem staggering to a layperson, former astronaut Leroy Chiao posits that "during survival training, new astronaut candidates are drilled in never giving up. A big part of [International Space Station] training involves drills in isolating leaks and toxic-chemical release, as well as fighting and retreating from fire. You have to believe that you are going to survive." With the ingenuity and will of qualified and brilliant scientists willing to make it all possible, it seems incredibly short-sighted to not send someone to Mars.

Furthermore, while I may continue to shower The Martian with compliments as to its realism and nuts-and-bots storytelling, it's still just a movie. I for one am sad that the excitement of walking on another planet isn't enough to coax an entire nation to invest in a Mars mission. Instead to sow the seeds of exploration we have to resort to a fall blockbuster and the promise of a reality TV show to make space a priority again. Then again if Jules Verne got us to look up at the moon with wonder, we can give due credit to director Ridley Scott and his detailed depiction of extra-planetary life.

Before this becomes the reality

Please consider NASA and to a more general extent, funding for the sciences the next time you and your colleagues are arbitrating the federal budget. The practicalities of space travel are, in some instances, hard to calculate or imagine. Yet the lynch-pin of a verdant society is the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. Please make The Martian more than just a work of very effective fiction. Please make it a reality.

Final Grade: B