The Martian: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

On Sol 7, Watney assesses his odds of survival. The crew evacuated the Hab while wearing flight spacesuits, so Watney’s EVA suit (and 5 other EVA suits) remain in the Hab. The satellite dish is nowhere to be seen. The MAV’s landing stage (including its fuel plant) remains on Mars. The MDV is seriously damaged, but could be used for parts. Both rovers are unharmed and the solar cell array still works. The Hab is unharmed and the oxygenator and water reclaimer are working perfectly. If he rations his food, Watney has 400 days of meals, plus extra vitamins. He also has enough morphine to commit suicide, so he won’t have to starve to death.

Watney begins to develop a long-term plan for survival and rescue. The Ares 4 mission is slated to arrive in four years at the Schiaparelli crater, about 3200 km away. Though Watney knows it’s possible that NASA will cancel Ares 4 after his apparent death, he hopes that if he can figure out a way to communicate with Earth, it may be possible to arrange for a rescue. His first goal is to fix the satellite radio.

Sol 10. After spending several days searching the surrounding area in the rover, Watney gives up on finding the communications dish. Watney has enough CO2 filters to last him for about 1500 hours of EVAs, so Watney decides to start “rationing” his EVAs as well as food.

Watney begins thinking about ways to grow food. As the mission’s botanist, he was going to see if he could grow anything in Martian soil and in Martian gravity. Martian soil is similar to Earth soil, but doesn’t have the bacterial activity or organic nutrients that living soil on Earth does, so Watney brought a small amount of Earth soil with him, and seeds for ferns and grasses. Watney isn’t yet sure how to turn this into a food source.

Sol 11. Watney writes one sentence: “I wonder how the Cubs are doing.”

Sol 14. Watney has begun saving his feces and the leftovers from his meals to use as “compost.” He plans to mix all this organic matter with Martian soil and Earth soil—the bacteria living in the Earth soil will spread through the rest of the soil and compost, converting it all to crop soil. Then, he’ll cover the floor of the Hab (92 square meters) with crop soil and plant beans, peas, and potatoes, which he has found in the Hab food supply. Since he has vitamins, he just needs his food to provide calories.

Sol 16. Watney realizes that the Hab does not have enough water to irrigate the crops he plans to grow. Adjusting his plan, he decides to he’ll ultimately cover only 2/3 of the Hab’s floor (62.5 square meters) with soil. This will save 50 liters of water, which he can then cycle through the water reclaimer, for himself. For now, he’s making a “planter” of just 5 square meters in order to test the process.

While he works, Watney starts thinking about his family in Chicago. Today is Thanksgiving, which means his parents would normally be hosting a dinner, but they’re probably still in the midst of mourning Watney’s death. He wishes he could tell them that he’s alive.

Sol 22. Watney has now covered 2/3 of the 62.5 square meter area with soil. The soil is developing well. He has also been listening to his crewmate Johanssen’s Beatles music, which she left behind in the evacuation. Doing some math, Watney realizes that the potatoes he grows on his 62.5 square meters will only feed him for 90 days. This means he now has food supplies through Sol 490, but the next planned Mars mission, Ares 4, won’t land until Sol 1412. He needs more food.