Eric Berger’s take on “Away”
Netflix’s Away splendidly brings a humans-to-Mars mission to life
QUOTE: “I found the show to be fantastic. The characters felt real, the politics felt real, and the technology felt real.”
As readers of this thread already know, I am not in complete agreement with Eric, whose space reporting I find to be exceptional. Of course we are talking about a work of fiction here, not actual events.
QUOTE: “Because of the actions taken on the way to Mars in the show, some critics have said the five astronauts in
Away would never have passed the extensive screenings to become crew members. But I suspect traveling into deep space for months at a time will have a profound effect on astronauts and lead to more independence.”
I think he is missing the fact that the astronauts were already exhibiting clear signs of conflict before they even left the Moon. The “chemical leak” fire accident that occurred during Earth-Moon transit laid bare the divides between crew members. They weren’t a team, they were warring personalities (with the exception of the botanist, who seemed designed to serve as the religious mediator on a crew of atheists).
QUOTE: “There are a few truly implausible events in
Away. The most glaring of which for me was the uncertainty about whether the
Pegasus supply ship successfully landed on Mars, a few weeks before the crew’s arrival. In the real world, this supply vessel would have launched and landed safely on Mars before a human crew ever left Earth’s gravity well. Moreover, there would be satellites in orbit around Mars to image the landing site.”
Only a “few”? While I agree with Eric about the absurdity of the success of the mission depending on a cargo vehicle arriving safely just weeks before the crew lands, he does not mention the numerous instances of basic scientific errors.
QUOTE: “But these are small quibbles. Most of the technology comes across as legitimate, an evolution of existing systems. If the show does not portray enough involvement from commercial companies—it is hard to see NASA reaching Mars
without SpaceX, for example—it does the intergovernmental space agency politics well. Bottom line: this show is set in a plausible future.”
I partially agree with him in that regard. However, I think the likelihood that at some point during the next decade or two the idea that China, the US, Russia, India, and Britain (not the EU, apparently*) would come together to mount a joint mission to Mars is wildly implausible. I can’t imagine even the US and the EU could come to an agreement to achieve that objective. I realize that the ISS is a mostly successful partnership, but the financial investment is much smaller and looking forward I cannot envision that happening again in the near future. The stresses and fracture lines evident in today’s world, driven by climate change, battles over globalization, rising extreme nationalism, and an internet that is trending toward exacerbating divisions rather than increasing peaceful cooperation, make such a fairytale vision of international cooperation extremely unlikely.
* The botanist wears a British flag on his flight suit. Leaving aside the possibility that by the time of this Mars mission Britain will likely have devolved, with a completely independent Scotland (and possibly Ireland) the EU is a far more powerful and economically capable entity with greater financial resources than Britain and would be a much more plausible participant in a Mars mission, as would Japan or Canada be compared to England.