Middlemist The Martian Study Guide

Hab

Where Watney stays in Acidalia Planitia

Ares Vallis

Where is Pathfinder located?

Acadalia Planitia

Where is the Ares 3 site?

Schiaparelli Crater

Where is the Ares 4 site?

Airlock 1

Which airlock detached from the Hab?

Mylar

Which conductive material was the culprit for destroying Pathfinder? (Hint: it is the material in Pathfinder's landing balloons)

Vicodin

Which medication did Watney use to treat aches and pains?

Fuel plant

Which part of the MAV did Watney use to make water?

Presupply 309

Which presupply mission contained the Hab sheet that ripped?

Rover 1

Which rover became a "trailer" for the trip to Schiaparelli?

AL102

Which sheet of Hab canvas ripped?

Sojourner

What is the name of Pathfinder's rover?

Hydrazine

What is the name of the fuel that Watney splits for hydrogen?

Sol 15-29

Watney brings all the dirt he needs into the Hab and creates viable soil.

Sol 119

After a medium-grade sandstorm hit the Hab and Watney is assessing the damage, he is launched in the airlock, and he has to make his way back to the Hab.

Sol 10, 14

After realizing his situation of food, which will last him 400 days if rationed, not enough to sustain himself till Ares 4 on sol 1412, Watney comes up with an idea to plant crops (prolific potatoes, peas, beans) using his own human waste as fertilizer

Phobos and Deimos

What are the names of the Mars moons?

Potatoes

What crop does Watney grow extensively on Mars?

Johanssen

Give the last name of whose cot Watney used to make his bath.

Martinez

Give the last name of whose suit Watney used to save himself after being launched in the airlock

Morse code

How does Watney communicate with Earth once the Pathfinder fries?

3

How many airlocks were on the Hab?

126

How many square meters of space did Watney have to grow crops after adding pop tents?

4

How many weather stations were positioned around the Hab?

ASCII

In what language does Watney initially use to receive messages back from Earth?

L-brackets

What did Watney make from some spare metal to hold extra solar panels onto the rovers?

Bedroom

What did Watney use the pop tents for after the farm died?

Rock sample drill

What did Watney use to make holes in rover 1?

Sol 7

Mark Watney takes up a stock of supplies including the machines in the Hab and the Rovers with his food supply lasting 400 days if 3/4th rationed

Sol 97-98

Problem 10: Although Watney had successfully established communication with Earth, his first method of receiving messages from Earth by camera rotation was far too slow to effectively communicate messages detailed enough for NASA to help Watney survive. Solution 10: Following the instructions of Jack Trevor and the other JPL software engineers, Watney has to transcribe 141 bytes of data to figure out how to hack the rover to connect to Pathfinder's new OS. He faces a problem of how to record all the bytes without having any possibility of missing any. He cannot just write in the sand because he needs to later move the message to the rover. He tries to use a laptop, but the LCD screen freezes and the laptop goes black. Watney then realizes he can carefully write the bytes in the sand, then use a camera to take several pictures, effectively capturing the bytes so vital to his plan.

Sol 117-118

Problem 11: When Watney's water reclaimer begins to act up and only reclaim half the amount of water it should, Watney attempts to follow NASA's many directions to try to fix the machine (to no avail) without taking it apart. Solution 11: Although Watney was specifically instructed to not disassemble the water reclaimer, Watney sees it as the only solution after following NASA's instructions futilely. He very carefully labeled every component and laid them out on the table for easy reassembly. Watney identified a tube clogged with excess minerals, cleaned it out, and reassembled the water reclaimer using the schematics for the device on his computer

Sol 6, 119-120

Problem 12: When several carbon fibers of the Hab canvas sheet AL102 stretched during the massive Sol 6 storm, the Hab canvas near Airlock 1 was left vulnerable to extreme pressure from the airlock functioning. On Sol 119, the Hab canvas ripped, having been stressed too much, and launched Airlock 1 with Watney inside 50 meters away from the deflated Hab. The impact shattered Watney's helmet faceplate and created a small hairline fracture in the airlock. Solution 12: Watney must think quickly, as his airlock and EVA suit are both leaking air. First, he builds up static on plastic and touches it to metal to lights some of his hair on fire. The smoke he created drifts out the hairline crack in the airlock, and he uses duct tape to seal the crack. He roles the airlock toward the Hab by slamming his body against the side of the airlock. He then uses shears from his toolbox to cut out a large portion of his EVA suit's left elbow. He then uses resin from his patch kit to seal the EVA material on his faceplate and to seal the hole made in his left arm. Although the suit was only airtight enough to sustain Watney for 4 minutes, his solution allowed him enough time to run to the Hab and retrieve Martinez's helmet and patch kit. Watney ultimately makes it safely to the rover

Sol 119-122

Problem 13: Although Watney was temporarily safe in the rover with Martinez's suit and patch kit, he was faced with inevitable death if he could not repair the Hab canvas and life support systems. Solution 13: First, Watney took off his helmet and replaced it with Martinez's. He also used Martinez's patch kit to improve the seal on his EVA suit's cut-out arm. Next, Watney went to the Hab and used one of the support poles to free Martinez's suit from the table it was caught on. He returned to the rover and exchanged his suit for Martinez's. He refilled the suit using the rover EVA tank refill system. He was then able to use spare strips of Hab canvas and resin to reseal the Hab and Airlock 1 hole. Having repaired the Hab, he salvaged all his mangled potato plants, and he reestablished power to the Hab life support systems and Pathfinder. Lastly, Watney replaced the tubing in the water reclaimer to fix the burst from the freezing water.

Sol 192-197

Problem 14: To execute the Rich Purnell Maneuver, Watney must travel to the Ares 4 MAV in Schiaparelli Crater. To do so, he must modify rover 1 to become a "trailer" that will contain all necessary life support items for the 3200 km trip. Solution 14: With the help of NASA, Watney executes a plan to drill hundreds of holes into the rover to transfer in the oxygenator, water reclaimer, and atmospheric regulator. He wires a rock sample drill directly to the rover recharge lines using resistors from his electronics kit to reduce the voltage and current. He used string from Martinez's bed to mark where he would cut for NASA's approval, then he chipped holes in the hull with his hammer and screwdriver. After making enough chips in the hull for a day of work, he proceeded to drill into the hole, letting the drill briefly cool down once every three holes. When he had to drill areas that he couldn't easily reach, he planned to modify a landing strut, but he realized he could just stand on a geological sample container. All said and done, Watney drilled about 760 and chiseled the parts between each hole out; this created enough room to get the three life support devices into the rover trailer.

Sol 196-380

Problem 15: When Watney accidentally trips the three drill breakers, frying Pathfinder, he is left without a way to communicate with Earth. Consequently, he has no idea what else was to be modified in the rover, and worse yet, he has to figure out how to power the "big three" life support items - the oxygenator, water reclaimer, and atmospheric regulator - with the minimal amount of battery power he has from the two rover batteries. Solution 15: Because Watney has no plan to restore his lost communication with Earth, he makes his own plans for modifying the rover and using minimal power for life support. First, he figures out what to do about his power issue. The rover batteries combined have 36 kW-hr of power, but the three life support machines alone need 69.2 kW-hr/sol. First, he decides to completely ditch the water reclaimer altogether, as he has enough water to last double his trip duration. Next, he analyzes the oxygenator's power consumption and discovers that it was designed to work for 6 people, but because it only has to work for one, it only uses 1/6 the speculated power. He also decides that if he spends one out of every five days running the oxygenator only and not driving, he will not need to run the oxygenator the other four days of the cycle. Finally, Watney discovers that the majority of the energy that the atmospheric regulator needs is used to heat the supercooled air on the way back into the atmosphere. So Watney decides to return to the RTG burial site, and retrieve the box of plutonium to be used to constantly heat the supercooled air. After building an RTG heating contraption on Sol 380, Watney, in total, only loses 1 kW-hr/sol to the atmospheric regulator, and he needs to camp out one day out of every five to let the oxygenator run to cleanse the carbon dioxide from the air. To generate energy quicker, Watney brilliantly uses landing strut metal to form L-brackets that can hold extra solar panels on the sides of the rovers. He also adds two of the Hab batteries directly to the rover batteries so they stay charged longer. Watney also reduces the weight of his rovers by removing excess life support equipment, passenger benches, and the trailer's driver seat, control panel, and computer. Thus, Watney's extensive modifications allowed him to drive 100 km per day four out of five days, allowing him to get to Schiaparelli much quicker than expected. Watney then sealed the hole he cut in the rover to add life support with pop tent canvas and resin.

Sol 385-389, 435

Problem 16: Watney realizes he cannot live for an extended time in the cramped rover, as he constantly hits things and never really has any personal space in the rover, something essential for a long-distance trip. Solution 16: Watney decides to make a "bedroom" tent using several materials on-hand. He uses the slightly rigid hexagonal bases of the rover pop tents to provide structure and attach the tent to the rover. However, he has to get 30 square meters of canvas to make up the rest of the tent. He decides to carefully move all water and vacuum-sensitive items into an airlock, then he depressurized the Hab. After he cut and attempted to reseal the strips, several gaps remained, so he threw some Martian dust on the cuts and watched where the dust was carried by the slight internal pressure of the Hab. He was then over to reseal the Hab, and using the extra Hab canvas, he made a "spacious" bedroom attached to the rover. When testing it, one of the seams on the bedroom breaks, so he later double seals the broken corner with extra canvas and resin. This creates a bedroom that lasts his whole journey.

Sol 431-449

Problem 17: Watney has to carefully pack for his trip to Schiaparelli, bringing only the necessary amount of food, water, and other life support items. He also has to figure out how to cook his potatoes for the trip, as he will not have a microwave along the way. Solution 17: First, Watney makes a list of all the food, water, shelter, air, life support, power, and heat he will need for his journey. He pre-microwaves all the potatoes, then puts them in a canvas sling over the rover to preserve them. He does not bring the water reclaimer, and instead just brings the 620 liters he has left. He packs the trailer tight with 2 Hab hydrogen batteries and the RTG heater. Then he brings all the necessary life support, one chunk at a time, into the remaining space in the already-cramped trailer. He decides to test it out. Because he does not want to transport all his 620 liters of water for the test, he loads 600 kilograms of rock as ballast to simulate the weight. He sets out on a 5-day test run to check that everything functions. WIth the test a success, he sets out for Schiaparelli Crater on Sol 449.

Sol 473-484

Problem 18: Although Watney's solar cells began declining in efficiency beginning on Sol 473, he does not actually realize he is in a dust storm until Sol 475. Without access to satellite imagery, he must quickly find a plan to exit the huge dust storm before his solar cell efficiency declines too much. Solution 18: Watney immediately realizes that the storm is traveling from east to west by visibility difference. He, therefore, has to figure out whether traveling north or south will lead him out of the storm. He tests the wattage output on two solar cells that he places 80 km north/south apart. He then records the wattage on these cells over 12 hours by putting power meters from his electronics kit, an EVA suit camera, and resistors as a heat source into a small sample box. The camera can then continually record the wattage output when he is not there. After setting up the two test cells, he records data in the middle to get three readings. He determines that to the storm is much less dense to the south, so he travels straight south for several Sols. Although this puts him slightly out of way, it is effective, as he regains full solar cell efficiency by Sol 484.

Sol 497-502

Problem 19: When Watney is descending into Schiaparelli Crater, one of his front wheels sinks into some soft sand and his trailer and rover disconnect, leaving both flipped upside-down. Watney is not hurt, but he has to flip both rovers to continue with his journey, and the trailer balloon is at risk of popping if he does not fix the problem soon. Solution 19: First Watney exits the rover and assesses the damage. He damaged 3 solar cells, but he collects the rest and sets them aside. He uses thick cabling meant to connect electronic components, he connects it to the drill, and he wedges the drill under the tipped rover. Gaining leverage because of the long length of the cord, he pulls hard, tipping the rover from its side. He performs system checks of everything, then he works on the trailer. The trailer flipped completely, so he digs a hole in front of the trailer nose, attaches a cable from the back of the trailer to his rover, then he pulls with the rover, sinking the nose of the trailer into the hole and flipping the trailer tail over head. He pulls the trailer out, then detaches the unbroken tow hook from the trailer and puts it on the rover. He drives very slowly into Schiaparelli Crater to avoid any more problems with a powder pit like before.

Sol 6

Problem 1: As the Ares 3 crew is evacuating Mars, Mark Watney is impaled by a communication antenna. He is knocked unconscious and is presumed dead. He is left stranded in a Martian dust storm, wounded badly and losing air fast. Solution 1: Luckily for Watney, his space suit sustained his life long enough for him regain consciousness, and his clotting blood sealed the hole in the suit to reduce the leak. Nevertheless, Watney is still in grave danger of suffocation, so he thinks quickly, using his breach kit to seal the gap in his suit. He carefully removes the antenna and limps to the Hab. There, he anesthetizes and stitches up his wound, ultimately saving his life.

Sol 506-543

Problem 20: Because he has to accelerate more than the MAV was designed to in order to intercept Hermes on the flyby, Watney has to extensively modify the MAV to reduce the weight and add extra fuel. Solution 20: Luckily for Watney, he has direct communication with NASA, so they can run all the calculations and give him instructions. To make more fuel, Watney electrolyzes his water and urine to get hydrogen, which he can then feed into the MAV fuel plant. To collect the hydrogen into a tank, he has to perform the procedure in the rover trailer. First, he adds ¼ atmosphere of oxygen, then he electrolyzes all the water in his container with some electrodes. Next, he removes all the oxygen from the air with the atmospheric regulator. Lastly, he has the extra air tank collect all the remaining air in the trailer, which is nearly pure hydrogen. To reduce the weight, he follows a carefully formulated plan from NASA. He removes everything from the MAV that is not completely necessary for the MAV to fly. This includes the five other chairs, the med kit, tools, harnessing, and straps. Flying in his EVA suit allows him to remove all the life support, including tanks, pumps, heaters, air lines, CO2 absorption, and all insulation. He removes all the control panels and computers, as well as three batteries, the auxiliary power system, extra OMS thrusters, and extra comm systems, because Martinez will pilot the ship. Even more drastically, he removes the nose airlock, windows, and Hull Panel Nineteen, covering it with Hab canvas. Lastly, he removes the back panel of the pressure vessel, auxiliary fuel pump, and even a Stage One Engine. After all this extensive modifying, he is ready to fly in the MAV by Sol 543, and he awaits final launch from Mars on Sol 549.

Sol 549

Problem 21: Watney's makeshift canvas covering rips during MAV launch, creating a tremendous amount of drag. This sets the MAV off course for the Hermes intercept by 68 kilometers. Solution 21: The Hermes crew think quickly, and they fire the attitude adjusters to get Hermes on a new intercept course close enough to the MAV. However, this leaves them traveling with a velocity of 42 m/s relative to the MAV. Watney suggests that he slit his glove to use the air pressure to fly to Hermes. Commander Lewis rejects this idea, but uses the principle of air pressure release to devise a plan. She has Vogel build a small pipe bomb, and he connects it to Lighting Panel 41 in the VAL airlock in the front of the ship. When the lighting panel triggers, the bomb explodes, immense pressure releases, and the ship slows to a relative velocity of 13 m/s. This allows Beck to exit Hermes and safely retrieve Watney to the ship.

Sol 7-29

Problem 2: When Watney is evaluating his post-storm situation, he realizes that in order to survive until the Ares 4 mission lands, he will have to figure out how to provide himself with food for 1425 days. He has only 300 days' worth of food, so he is faced with a major calorie deficit. Solution 2: To deal with this issue, Watney first plans to ration food in 3/4 portions, leaving him with enough food for 400 days. He has plenty of multivitamins, so he thinks up a plan to create calories of any kind, nutritious or not. Watney uses his botany knowledge to begin by creating viable soil; he mixes dry Martian soil with bacteria and nutrient-rich Earth soil and fecal waste. After covering all 92 square meters of the Hab floor, the five unused bunks and two lab tables, and the two 10 square meter rover pop-tents with this soil, he then plants potatoes that were intended for Thanksgiving dinner. Assuming he will sustain these plants over time, this solution vastly improves his food situation, giving him food for over 50% of the time until Ares 4 lands.

Sol 7, 63-96

Problem 3: When Mark Watney is determining everything that must be done to ensure his survival until rescue, he recognizes on Sol 7 that communication with Earth will be essential. It is not until Sol 72, however, that he sets a plan into motion to solve this problem. Solution 3: Using his knowledge of the previous Mars missions, Watney decides to retrieve Pathfinder and the Sojourner rover, a mission that went offline in 1997 but may be repairable. Watney extensively modifies rover 2 for long-distance traveling, adding a second battery, solar cells for recharging, a more efficient heating system, and life-support items including nitrogen, oxygen, and water tanks, as well as carbon dioxide filters. After testing the rover three times for longer-distance use, Watney sets out on a trip to Ares Vallis to retrieve Pathfinder. He made an inclined ramp with rocks and braided some extra Hab fabric into rope to get the heavy Pathfinder probe onto the rover's roof, and after 22 sols of driving, he arrived back at the Hab. He used an MAV platform strut to get the probe off the roof and proceeded to repair it. He connected it to Hab power by regulating the voltage down to 1.5 volts, and he used the rover 1 heaters to increase the battery's temperature to operating range. This allows him to successfully establish a communication with Earth.

Sol 16-34

Problem 4: After Watney successfully creates viable soil for the potatoes to grow in, he is faced with yet another issue: he does not have nearly enough water to keep all his plants alive. He is over 250 liters short. Solution 4: Watney's knowledge of chemistry saves him, as he comes up with a plan to make water by combusting pure oxygen and hydrogen. He has to obtain these two pure components, however. The oxygen is fairly easy to obtain; he has a machine in the Hab that converts carbon dioxide into oxygen and stores any extra in reserve tanks. All he has to do to make the oxygenator work "overtime" is flood the air with carbon dioxide. Watney recalls that there are several 10 L tanks of carbon dioxide left behind at the MAV fuel plant, so he retrieves these tanks and uses them to produce oxygen. Obtaining the hydrogen is much more dangerous. In the MDV, there are hundreds of liters of unused hydrazine rocket fuel. Watney takes an immense risk and decides to very slowly split the rocket fuel into its component nitrogen and hydrogen molecules using an iridium catalyst. He creates a tent to catch the minimal amounts of hydrogen using bags and duct tape. He splinters a wooden cross that Martinez left behind, and he ignites it using pure oxygen and a battery. He then slowly splits the hydrozine and ignites the hydrogen produced to create water.

Sol 37-42

Problem 5: When Watney realizes that there was a large amount of water missing that he assumed he was producing, he samples the air and reveals the atmospheric composition to be 64%. Excess hydrogen escaped into the air with each water creation, and over time, the hydrogen built up. The Hab was now, effectually, a bomb. Solution 5: In order to get rid of all the excess hydrogen, Watney decides to perform the reverse of the water operation he has been performing; instead of adding small amounts of hydrogen to an excess of oxygen, he will burn controlled amounts of oxygen in an excess of hydrogen. However, to do this he must remove all oxygen from the Hab atmosphere, putting his plants and bacteria-rich soil at risk. He bags his plants and carefully moves them to the rover. He simulates natural winter by lowering the temperature in the Hab to 1°C to make the bacteria in the soil hibernate, in a sense. He tricks the atmospheric regulator into pulling all the oxygen out of the air by pumping pure oxygen into its sensors (forcing it to "freak out" and pull lots of oxygen out of the atmosphere). He then proceeds to slowly burn off all the hydrogen in the Hab. He adjusts his water production method to include regular hydrogen cleanings to prevent hydrogen from ever building up to that extent again.

Sol 63-65

Problem 6: In order to perform long-distance missions, Watney must figure out how to extend the short battery life of the rover. Watney will ultimately need to travel 3200 kilometers to reach Schiaparelli crater, yet his rover can barely go 40 kilometers on a full charge. Solution 6: Watney is able to extend the rover's battery life by doing three things. First, he recognizes that over 50% of the battery's power is used just to heat the rover, so shutting off the heating system and layering his clothing helps double the battery life. Watney also transfers the battery of rover 1 to rover 2. He uses extra Hab canvas to make a saddle bag that he throws over the second rover to hoist rover 1's battery onto the second rover. By successfully carrying a second battery, Watney again doubled the range of his rover. This was still, however, not nearly close to 3200 km, so Watney attaches 14 solar cells to the rover to recharge the batteries when they die. This solution effectively provides Watney with the ability to go any distance, but it only allows him to drive for four hours per day before having to use the solar cells to charge the batteries up for about twelve hours

Sol 67-69

Problem 7: After test-driving his modified long-distance rover for the first time, Watney experiences a major flaw in his design. He realizes that there is not nearly enough heat in the rover when the batteries are not being used for the rover heaters, even with layered clothing and a well-insulated rover. Solution 7: Watney recalls a radioactive device called the RTG that Commander Lewis buried 4 km away from the Hab as soon as she could. The radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) was intended to be used to convert the heat of radioactive plutonium into electricity. Watney, on the other hand, decides to search for the RTG (marked by a bright green flag) within a few kilometers of the Hab. When he finds it, it actually proves to be such an effective heat source that Watney had to remove a large amount of insulation from the rover to keep the inside of the cabin at room temperature.

Sol 71

Problem 8: As Watney prepares to leave for Ares Vallis, he faces the problem of keeping his potatoes alive while he is gone. It is necessary to supply them with the water and carbon dioxide they need, so his absence could be potentially detrimental to the plants. Solution 8: Watney decides to use the Hab as a greenhouse of sorts. He saturates the ground with lots of water and deactivates the atmospheric regulator to prevent water reclamation from the air. This makes the Hab extremely humid, but provides the potatoes with plenty of moisture to survive. Watney also recalls the carbon dioxide tanks at the MAV fuel plant, thinking that may solve the carbon dioxide problem. He collects a tank of liquid carbon dioxide and vents it into the Hab, hoping it will be enough to sustain his potatoes. With the health of his plants satisfied, he departs to Ares Vallis

Sol 82, 97

Problem 9: When Watney is recovering Pathfinder, he realizes that although he can use its camera to send messages to Earth, there is no obvious way to receive communication back from Earth. Solution 9: After Watney sent a few messages to Earth and used the 360º rotation ability of the camera to receive yes/no answers from Earth, Watney first thinks to set up signs with the alphabet to relay one letter at a time. Realizing that 26 letters would lead to an angle too small to distinguish between each letter, Watney decides to use ASCII hexadecimal code (with only 16 letters/numbers) to receive messages. He recovers an ASCII reference sheet from Johanssen's computer, and uses it to translate several subsequent messages from Earth

Atmospheric Regulator External Component

What does AREC stand for (Hint: Watney says it was very "creatively named")

Radioisotopic thermoelectric generator

What does RTG stand for?

Crew jumpsuits

What does Watney use for bedding while away from the Hab?

Pathfinder

What does Watney use to communicate with Earth?

Morphine

The Hab medical supplies contained a lethal dose of what?

Mark Watney

The astronaut stranded on Mars

Day 687

The day number of Watney's rescue

Mars Descent Vehicle

The full name of the MDV

Duct tape

What does Watney use to seal the crack in Airlock 1?

Zirconia Electrolysis

The oxygenator uses this process to extract oxygen from CO2

Sol 6

The sol in which Watney is stranded on Mars

Sol 549

The sol number of Watney's rescue

Iris

The supply probe mission that fails

Breach kit (Patch kit)

This kit contains spare material and resin

True

True or False: The rovers were able to share air via air hoses

MDV

Used to get from Hermes to Mars

Sol 63-66

Watney begins the initial process of modifying his rover before Sirius 1

Sol 37-40

Watney accidentally turns the Hab into a bomb and he devises a plan to resolve it

Sol 208-211

Watney adds the room he needs for extra solar panels and the extra battery storage from the Hab needed to travel 100 km per sol. He also removes everything unnecessary from the rovers.

Sol 505

Watney arrives at the Ares 4 MAV on this sol

Sol 466

Watney arrives in Arabia Terra

Sol 458

Watney arrives in Mawrth Vallis on this sol.

Sol 95-96

Watney attempts to repair Sojourner and successfully uses Pathfinder to establish communication with Earth

Sol 41-42

Watney checks the heating unit, primary battery array, O2 and N2 storage tanks, water reclaimer, all three airlocks, lighting systems, main computer, etc. after the Great Hydrogen Scare. He also cleans up the mess made by the explosions.

Sol 487

Watney contemplates if he should retrieve the Opportunity rover.

Sol 529

Watney converts his urine and any extra stored water into hydrogen for the MAV fuel plant

Sol 197-199

Watney devises solutions to keep life support functioning on his trip to Schiaparelli

Sol 30-34

Watney divises his solution to his water problem and tests it for the first time

Sol 193-195

Watney drills holes in the rover for the first time

Sol 67

Watney embarks on Sirius 1

Sol 69

Watney embarks on Sirius 2

Sol 70

Watney embarks on Sirius 3

Sol 431-444

Watney figures out how to pack everything he needs and he tests the rover and the bedroom several times. The last time, he tests the rover for a full five sols to practice the "oxygen-day".

Sol 376

Watney finishes the rover modifications on this sol.

Sol 117-118

Watney fixes the water reclaimer by taking it apart and reassembling it, even after being explicitly told not to by NASA

Sol 120-122

Watney gets to the safety of the rover and repairs the Hab

Sol 98

Watney hacks the rover using NASA's instructions, effectively establishing written communication with Earth for the first time

Sol 192

Watney learns that the Hermes crew is coming back for him and preps for the Ares 4 trip with rover and trailer modifications

Sol 449

Watney leaves for Schiaparelli on this sol.

Sol 380

Watney makes a contraption that allows the RTG to heat the atmosphere of the rovers

Sol 201

Watney makes an RTG water heater, allowing him to take a bath

Sol 506-543

Watney performs modifications on the MAV as instructed by NASA

Sol 71-94

Watney preps for Sirius 4 as he moves vital items to the rover and makes plans to sustain his potatoes while he is gone. He then embarks on and successfully completes Sirius 4 (This date range is from the sol he preps to the sol he first writes from the Hab at Acadalia Planitia).

Sol 475-484

Watney realizes he is in a massive dust storm, and he devises a way to get out. (The end of this sol range is the sol when he says that solar cell efficiency is finally 100% again).

Sol 474-475

Watney realizes he is on the ridge of Marth Crater. The next sol, he lands right in the center of it.

Sol 385-389

Watney realizes he needs living space in the rover, so he uses the pop tents and Hab canvas to make a bedroom.

Sol 97

Watney talks with NASA using the camera rotation

An emergency flashlight

Watney used frayed wires to light a fire after he ripped what off of the Hab wall?

Sol 196

Watney's communications are down once more as the drill's beakers tripped around the same time.

Sol 498-500

Watney's rover flips on the way into Schiaparelli basin, so he devises a solution to flip the rover and trailer.