Chapter 22.
In this chapter, Mark Watney reaches Mawrth Vallis. This is the end of the level driving. He’s been traveling for 10 Sols, and everything is going smoothly.
On the CNN’s Mark Watney report, Dr. Venkat Kapoor talks about the storm that his heading towards Watney right now. Venkat reports that the storm will cut off eighty percent of the necessary sunlight Watney needs to power the rover and the life support systems, and it will only keep getting worse. They don’t know at this point if Watney will be able to survive or how he will power the rover and life support systems with just twenty percent sunlight to power everything through the solar panels, which are the only way to get power for both the rover and the life support systems Watney relies on to stay alive.
Watney’s driving through Mawrth Vallis has been uneventful. He navigates by latitude and longitude. He uses a satellite called Phobos to figure out his longitude, and a sixteenth century tube system to figure out his latitude.
Mindy Parks, who is in charge of watching Watney, notices that he is on track for Sol 494 arrival, but also realizes that he is five days until the dust storm reaches him. He gets to Aribia Terra, even though it is easy to get lost in, and it also has a bunch of giant craters that he has to drive around. Later he gets through Rutherford and Trouvelot, and he’s also picking up rock samples to bring back to Earth, even though NASA will probably tell him to leave them. His next obstacle if Marth Crater. If he gets close to the rim, he’ll use up less time trying to get around it.
Commander Lewis and the Ares 3 crew realize that Watney might not make it to Schiaparelli. Commander Lewis doesn’t think he’ll make it, but Martinez thinks he will. He knows that Watney has been through a lot, but he’s also clever, so Martinez has faith in Watney that he’ll survive.
On the fifth air day, Watney relaxes. His progress has been really good. Once he gets out of the Watney Triangle, he’ll be able to beeline to Schiaparelli with impunity. Watney has 1435 kilometers to go until he reaches Schiaparelli.
Later, Watney reaches the ridge of Marth Crater, but he doesn’t know where on the ridge he is. He figures out that he hit Marth Crater dead on, which will take up time to get around. Watney also realizes that he’s in the middle of a dust storm for several Sols, which is why his batteries haven’t been charging as well as they used to. He tries to figure out what to do, but he can’t think of anything to do.
Chapter 23.
In this chapter, Mark Watney thinks he can figure out what to do. If he sits for a day, he can determine how much power he is getting from the sun by measuring at the same time another day. He’ll drive 40 kilometers, drop a solar cell, then drive another 40 kilometers and drop another solar cell, then the next day go back and collect the two solar cells to determine how much power he is getting. By comparing the wattage on those three days, he’ll learn the shape of the storm. That way he can learn the shape of the storm and plan accordingly to where he needs to go to get the most power for the solar cells. He measures the storm, and determines that the sunlight is dropping 4.5 percent per sol. If he was to stay where he was for another 16 Sols, it would get dark enough on Mars to kill Watney.
He continues driving, and things seem to be going well. He drops off a power logger 40 kilometers due south of where he parked, then drove another 40 kilometers due south, he dropped off another power logger. Tomorrow he will reverse course and see what they have to say when he picks them up.
After he picks them up, he gets the readings. The northernmost one shows a decrease of 12.3 efficiency loss, the middle one 9.5 efficiency loss, and the third one 6.4 efficiency loss. He figures out that if he drives south, the storm will pass him by on the north, then go east.
Watney FINALLY gets past the storm. He made it out alive. He can now head towards Schiaparelli without worrying about not having enough power to survive. He should arrive at Schiaparelli on Sol 498. That will give him forty-four Sols to do whatever MAV modifications NASA wants him to do.
Watney realizes he is about four Sols from the Mars rover Opportunity. If he gets Opportunity’s radio working he could talk to NASA, who could tell him where he is, give him directions, and tell him if another storm is coming. They would be a big help to Watney. He also wants to get to Opportunity and get the radio working because he’s tired of being alone. But, he decides not to go and mess with Opportunity. He’s only eleven Sols from the HAB, and he wants to get to it.
Watney decides that once he gets to the HAB, he will use the bedroom to house the oxygenator and atmospheric regulator, and he’ll use the trailer as a bedroom. The rover will serve as storage, since he won’t need to drive it anymore.
Watney drives to the rim of the crater Schiaparelli, and while driving on a seemingly ordinary slope, dives off an invisible ridge. The trailer connector snaps, and so does the hoses connecting the two vehicles. The trailer plunged headlong into soft soil and flipped onto its roof, stopping. The rover, however, continued tumbling down. Finally, after twenty meters, the rover stops on its side. Watney is alive, for now at least.
Chapter 24.
In this chapter, the Department heads find out what happened through satellite imagery. They determine that Watney is still alive, but they think he may be injured. The pressure seal on the rover is okay, and Watney has not done an EVA yet.
Watney is okay. He’s not hurt. As soon as the rover started to roll, he curled into a ball and cowered. He checks the inside of the rover, and everything is okay. He’s only 220 kilometers from the HAB, and he is NOT going to let something like this slow him down or prevent him from getting to it. He decides to suit up and do an EVA to assess the outside damage of the rover.
The outside damage isn’t bad. Everything is at least okay. Three solar cells are damaged, but Watney can still survive with an extra solar cell. He tries to push the rover back on its wheels, but is unsuccessful. He spells out a message for NASA, which says “Rolled. Fixing now.” Well, Venkat is not happy with that. He wants to know more.
Watney is able to right the Rover, which he can use to right the trailer. He gets the trailer righted by pulling on it with a rope attached to the rover and making it do a somersault into a hole he dug. Then he reconnects the trailer to the rover and keeps going. He decides to slow down from 25KPH to 5KPH so he can stop quickly if he feels like he’s going to roll again.
The crew at NASA are grateful that Watney is okay. They are surprised that he fixed everything.
Watney hates driving slow, but it makes sure that he won’t fall or roll the rover anymore. Finally, he gets to the Schiaparelli crater! At last! He still has 148 kilometers to go until he gets to the HAB, but he will make it!
He drives for 90 kilometers before he has to camp out, putting him 50 kilometers from the HAB. He is really excited about that, but what he’s more excited about is he got a blip from the MAV on his homing device! The closer he gets to the HAB, the better the signal will be.
FINALLY, Mark Watney arrives at the HAB in southwestern Schiaparelli. He suits up for an EVA, and celebrates by pointing at the HAB and fist pumping the air. He runs towards it and h8uggs landing strut B, then runs around it again celebrating again. Now tired, he goes into the airlock and seals the door behind him. He has made it to the HAB!
