In the year 2035, the crew of
NASA's Ares 3 mission have arrived at
Acidalia Planitia for a planned month-long stay on Mars. After only six
sols, an intense dust and wind storm threatens to topple their Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), which would trap them on the planet. During the hurried evacuation, an antenna tears loose and impales astronaut Mark Watney, a
botanist and
engineer, also disabling his spacesuit radio. He is flung out of sight by the wind and presumed dead. As the MAV teeters dangerously, mission commander Melissa Lewis has no choice but to take off without completing the search for Watney. However, Watney is not dead. His injury proves relatively minor, but with no long-range radio, he cannot communicate with anyone. He must rely on his own resourcefulness to survive. He begins a log of his experiences. His philosophy is to "work the problem", solving each challenge in turn as it confronts him. With food a critical, though not immediate, problem, he begins growing
potatoes in the crew's Martian habitat, the Hab. He uses an
iridium catalyst to separate
hydrogen gas from surplus
hydrazine fuel, which he then burns to generate water for the plants. NASA eventually discovers that Watney is alive when
satellite images of the landing site show evidence of his activities; NASA personnel begin devising ways to rescue him, but withhold the news of his survival from the rest of the Ares 3 crew, on their way back to Earth aboard the
Hermes spacecraft, so as not to distract them. Watney plans to drive to
Schiaparelli crater where the next mission, Ares 4, will land in four years and whose MAV is already pre-positioned. He begins modifying one of the
rovers for the journey, adding
solar cells and an additional
battery. He makes a three-week test drive to recover part of the
Pathfinder lander and
Sojourner rover and brings it back to the Hab, enabling him to contact NASA. Mitch Henderson, the Ares 3 flight director, convinces NASA Administrator Teddy Sanders to allow him to inform the Ares 3 crew of Watney's survival; they are thrilled, except for Lewis, who is guiltstricken at leaving him behind. The canvas at one of the Hab
airlocks tears because of Watney's repeated use of the same airlock, which was not designed for frequent and longterm usage. This results in the
depressurization of the Hab and nearly kills him. He repairs the Hab, but his plants are dead, threatening him again with eventual starvation. Setting aside safety protocols to comply with time constraints, NASA hastily prepares an uncrewed
probe to send Watney supplies, but the rocket disintegrates after
liftoff. A deal with the
China National Space Administration provides a ready
booster — planned for use with the
Taiyang Shen, an uncrewed solar probe — to try again. With no time to build a probe with a soft-landing system, NASA is faced with the prospect of building a
capsule whose cargo can survive crashing into the Martian surface at . However,
astrodynamicist Rich Purnell devises a
"slingshot" trajectory around Earth for a gravity assist that could get
Hermes back to Mars on a much-extended mission to save Watney, using the Chinese
rocket booster to send a simpler resupply probe to
Hermes as it passes Earth. Sanders vetoes the "Rich Purnell Maneuver", as it would entail risking the other crewmembers, but Henderson secretly emails the details to
Hermes. All five of Watney's crewmates approve the plan. Once they begin the maneuver, having disabled the remote overrides, NASA has no choice but to support them. The resupply ship docks with
Hermes successfully. Watney resumes modifying the rover because the new rescue plan requires him to lift off from Mars in the Ares 4 MAV. While working on the rover, Watney accidentally shorts out the electronics of
Pathfinder, losing the ability to communicate with Earth, except for spelling out
Morse code with rocks for a one-way communication. After Watney leaves for Schiaparelli, NASA discovers that a
dust storm is approaching his path, but has no way to warn him. The rover's solar cells will be less and less able to recharge, endangering both the
rendezvous and his immediate survival if there is not enough power to run his life-support equipment. While crossing
Arabia Terra, Watney becomes aware of the darkening sky and improvises a rough measurement of the storm's shape and direction of movement, enabling him to go around it. Surviving a rover
rollover on his descent into Schiaparelli, Watney reaches the MAV and reestablishes contact with NASA. He receives instructions on the radical modifications necessary to reduce the MAV's weight to enable it to intercept
Hermes during its
flyby. The modifications include removing the front of the MAV, which Watney has to cover with Hab
canvas. After takeoff, the canvas tears, creating extra
drag and leaving the MAV too low for the rendezvous. Lewis hastily improvises a plan to intercept the MAV by firing
Hermes attitude thrusters and then blowing a hole in the front airlock with an improvised
sugar-and-liquid-oxygen bomb, using the thrust from the escaping air to reduce speed. Beck, the
Hermes EVA specialist, uses a
Manned Maneuvering Unit, on a tether to reach Watney and bring him back to
Hermes. In a final log entry, Watney expresses his joy at being rescued, reflecting on the human instinct to help those in need. ==Main characters==