What happened to Rover 1 in The Martian?

What happened to Rover 1 in The Martian? - City Skyline Across Body of Water

Part of the story-line for the Martian involves Watney salvaging parts from "Rover 1":

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But the movie doesn't really touch on what happened to Rover 1, perhaps the book goes into more detail about this, but it seems like something else took down Rover 1 other than the storm that caused the crew to abort the mission.

Admittedly I haven't read the book, but does anybody know what happened to Rover 1?



Best Answer

The movie and your picture make it clear. Rover 1 was made inoperable by the same sand storm that almost killed and stranded Mark.

In the book, both Rovers are fine. The official screenplay also implies it. The movie straight out changes it. For background in the book, screenplay & movie, during the storm, Watney is suggesting to anchor the MAV with the guy-lines of the Solar Farm/Comm Mast tied to the Rovers. In mid sentence, he gets smashed by flying debris.

Later, in his science the shit out of this speech, the screenplay and movie differ:

But here’s the rub. I’ve got two rovers designed to go a max distance of 35 kilometers before they need to be recharged at the Hab. That’s problem A.

vs

Okay, so here's the rub. I've got one working Rover designed to go a max distance of 35 kilometers before the battery has to be recharged at the Hab. That's Problem A.

Both feature the same scavenging of Rover 1, as does the book.

While the Book goes out of its way to point out that both Rovers were designed to take a beating in a sand storm, the screenplay is vague about Rover 1's condition, and the movie shows us how beat up it was.

Rover 1, which is identical to Rover 2, is clearly smashed in, half buried and sticking up in the air. At Least one of it's 6 wheels have fallen off!

enter image description here

Triple A doesn't provide service on Mars yet.

For reference, Book, Chapter 2:

Both rovers are half-buried in sand, but they’re in good shape otherwise. Their pressure seals are intact. Makes sense. Operating procedure when a storm hits is to stop motion and wait for the storm to pass. They’re made to stand up to punishment. I’ll be able to dig them out with a day or so of work.




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What happened to Rover 1 in The Martian? - Yachts Docked on the Side of the River Near City Buildings
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What happened to rover 1 on the Martian?

The rover sent its last status on 10 June 2018 when a global 2018 Mars dust storm blocked the sunlight needed to recharge its batteries. After hundreds of attempts to reactivate the rover, NASA declared the mission complete on February 13, 2019.

What happened to Pathfinder in the Martian?

End of missionCommunication failed after October 7, with a final data transmission received from Pathfinder at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, but the mission was terminated on March 10, 1998.

What happened to the crew in the Martian?

During their mission in Mars, a team of astronauts is hit by an unpredicted storm and have to abort their mission and leave for Earth. During the evacuation one of the crew members, Mark Watney, is hit by a projectile due to the storm and is thrown away.

Why did Mark Watney cut a hole in the rover?

He drilled holes into the top and put a 'balloon' in it in order to make the right conditions for the oxygenator and to make it bigger. Watney also salvaged the power cells from the abandoned Rover 1 to double the power lifespan of the Rover 2.



Mars: What happened to the Spirit Rover?




More answers regarding what happened to Rover 1 in The Martian?

Answer 2

In the books, both Rovers are operable until Mark Watney makes the arbitrary decision to loot one of the Rovers for parts.

From The Martian, Chapter 7:

I'll need to trick out a rover. Basically it'll have to be a mobile Hab. I'll pick Rover 2 as my target. We have a certain bond, after I spent two days in it during the Great Hydrogen Scare of Sol 37.

...

Having rendered Rover 1 unusable, I'll have to use my mutant rover for the trip.

Answer 3

You are correct when you watch the first mav take off you see the rover being blown over by the rocket exhaust and the rover rolling off to the side

Answer 4

Rover 1 was damaged by the MAV takeoff. Remember, Martinez drive it over to do his checks while everyone else was doing their work near the HAB. When they evacuated, they left Rover 2 and walked to the MAV.

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