How Quadro Put “The Martian” on the Red Planet

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No one’s been to Mars yet. But thanks to GPUs, scenes of astronaut Mark Watney — played by Matt Damon in the film “The Martian” — on Mars feel like a documentary. The movie shows Watney living through a ferocious storm; scraping together a plan to survive, alone, on his base — known as “The Hab;” grunting across the red planet’s surface; and, finally, launching into space. To meld the film’s story and visual effects together, Moving Picture Company, one of the world’s largest visual effects studios, relied on our NVIDIA Quadro graphics cards. The result: a movie that has wowed critics — and pulled in huge audiences — with visual effects that drive a classic story about one man’s struggle to get home.
 
1 man stranded in a strange arena.
Must cope with the unfamiliar terrain, find resources to survive, and dreams day in and day out that he gets back home.
We are amazed at this person's ability to adapt and the simplistic but intricate doohickeys they have created to assist with survival.

I have not yet seen it (probably will), but could this movie have been named Cast Away: Red Planet?
 
1 man stranded in a strange arena.
Must cope with the unfamiliar terrain, find resources to survive, and dreams day in and day out that he gets back home.
We are amazed at this person's ability to adapt and the simplistic but intricate doohickeys they have created to assist with survival.

I have not yet seen it (probably will), but could this movie have been named Cast Away: Red Planet?

Thats a funny way to put it. I saw the movie when it came out and the reason it was so captivating and much more intense was because Damon wasn't stranded on an island miles off the coast of some continent but he was stranded light years away from planet earth.
 
Thats a funny way to put it. I saw the movie when it came out and the reason it was so captivating and much more intense was because Damon wasn't stranded on an island miles off the coast of some continent but he was stranded light years away from planet earth.

Well, not quite light years. Light seconds, yes.
 
I watched it. The only complaint I have is when they did a cgi version of him emaciated. Otherwise a well done movie.
 
You sure? I thought it was closer to 10-11 min.

Well, at it's closest distance...which won't happen again for a long time.


Earth to Sun/Sol = 92 million miles = 8.5 light minutes

Earth to Mars (closest until 2290AD/CE) = 34 million miles = 3 light minutes
Earth to Mars (farthest) = 155 million miles = 14 light minutes
Earth to Mars (average) = 140 million miles = 12-13 light minutes

I could claim a technicality here, but I won't since the average distance is around 4-5 times that distance, so I stand (self?) corrected. Thanks for the check-my-work nudge. ;)
 
Well, at it's closest distance...which won't happen again for a long time.


Earth to Sun/Sol = 92 million miles = 8.5 light minutes

Earth to Mars (closest until 2290AD/CE) = 34 million miles = 3 light minutes
Earth to Mars (farthest) = 155 million miles = 14 light minutes
Earth to Mars (average) = 140 million miles = 12-13 light minutes

I could claim a technicality here, but I won't since the average distance is around 4-5 times that distance, so I stand (self?) corrected. Thanks for the check-my-work nudge. ;)


Lol. I was just going off what I remember from the book and movie which I believe uses 11 minutes each way for communication with Watney. Really cool number you but up there though. I had no idea the orbits varied that much. Hopefully we'll have made it to Mars before 2290 but if not it looks like a great time to launch! ;)
 
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