Potato Farming Begins

Lore & Background

After being left for dead during a fierce dust storm, Mark Watney faced the grim reality of being stranded on Mars with limited supplies. As a botanist, he knew that the Hab's environment could be manipulated to grow crops, but the challenge was immense. The Martian soil lacked organic nutrients, so he used his own waste to fertilize it, and he created water by burning hydrazine fuel from the MAV descent stage. The first potato sprouts were a triumph of ingenuity, proving that life could be sustained on the Red Planet through sheer determination and science.

In Their Own Story

The Hab's airlock hissed as Mark Watney stepped inside, his spacesuit caked with red dust. He carried a bag of potatoes from the mission's food supplies, each one a potential seed. In a corner of the Hab, he mixed soil with his own compost, adding water drop by drop from a makeshift system. Days later, he knelt, peering at the dirt. A tiny green shoot pushed through, fragile and defiant. He whispered, 'Hello, little guy. You're my ticket home.'

Reader's Guide

The Potato Farming Begins arc starts with Watney's realization that he must grow food to survive until a rescue mission can reach him. He uses the Hab's soil, his own waste as fertilizer, and water produced from hydrazine to plant potatoes. The initial success is marred by a critical setback when the Hab's airlock malfunctions, causing a pressure drop that kills his first crop. Watney recovers by replanting in the Hab's main area, using more controlled conditions. This event underscores his resilience and problem-solving, directly impacting his ability to survive and communicate with NASA via the Pathfinder rover. The farming project becomes a symbol of human ingenuity and a key plot driver, as Watney's progress is monitored by NASA, influencing their rescue timeline.

Did You Know?

• Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
• Potatoes were domesticated about 7,000–10,000 years ago from a species in the S. brevicaule complex.
• The Spanish introduced potatoes to Europe in the second half of the 16th century from the Americas.
• There are now over 5,000 different varieties of potatoes worldwide.
• Normal potato tubers that have been grown and stored properly produce glycoalkaloids in negligible amounts, but if sprouts and potato skins are exposed to light, tubers can become toxic.