The fatal flaw in The Martian's ending

Physics has a word or two to say about The Martian’s so-called scientific accuracy.

Ridley Scott’s critically acclaimed science-fiction film, The Martian (2015), based on the book of the same title by Andy Weir, has been lauded as a masterpiece of scientifically accurate science fiction film making. From start to finish there are very few mistakes and some are issues that have come to light from research published after its release. However, physics is the bearer of bad news for the ending which undermines that near-perfect record of accuracy…

This is a guest video from Thomas Rintoul, a master's student in astrophysics at the University of St Andrews. Support him in his sci comm growth and check out his socials:

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Music by Epidemic Sound: http://epidemicsound.com
Some stock footage courtesy of Getty.
Edited by Luke Negus.

In this guest video, an astrophysics researcher reviews the accuracy of the ending of The Martian with Matt Damon, talking about thrust vectoring, the calculated acceleration gain from venting your spacesuit, and the likely outcome of the film's depiction.

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