From seed XCOR investor and blog reader Stephen Fleming, with connections to GA Tech.
[Wednesday-morning update]
Casey Stedman weighs in.
My biggest concern with going to the movie: When I read the book, I didn’t actually have to listen to the Disco.
[Bumped]
“…although the orbital mechanics are spot on…” I here this repeatedly and it ain’t so.
Spoiler…..
At 1:15 of Tyson’s trailer Neil says Hermes departs from LEO.
At page 395 of the book Lewis says Hermes can accelerate at 2mm/s (She should have said 2mm/s^2 but I’ll give her a pass).
With 2 mm/^2 acceleration it would take Hermes more than a month to spiral out of earth’s gravity well from LEO. Much of that slow spiral would be through the Van Allen Belts.
The extra month spent in earth’s neighborhood wrecks Weir’s 124 day trajectory.
Had Hermes departed from EML2 the 124 day trajectory would be plausible.
Mr. Stedman must have more sophisticated eye for reduced-gravity motion than I do; I suspect Matt Damon trouncing around in 1g will not foul my experience.
I follow a planetary scientist named Dr. Phil Metzger on Twitter (@DrPhiltill). Dr. Metzger said that he has participated in several reduced gravity airplane flights and the Mars sequences are “disappointingly Earth-like”.