Newsletter #4 Amaze amaze amaze! Project Hail Mary gives hope for mankind
Stardate 12042026,
Welcome back friends :) This movie is everything I love about sci-fi and is a cure all for a bad mood. If you have followed the news you may know about the Artemis crew making it back to earth and I can not be more proud. In some ways it feels kind of silly to send people to the moon when earth is having crisis after crisis. But to me it reminds me of how much we can do as people when we put our heads together. And that sentiment is very much present in Project Hail Mary.
In retrospect i cant believe i didn’t finish the book of Project Hail Mary. I don’t know what it was but i just could not get through it. What didn’t help was the sticker - but not really a sticker just kind of a printed circkle on the cover. Announcing the major motion picture with Ken! No wait Ryan gosling.
Every word came to me in the Ken voice from barbie and it was unbearable.
So it is a small wonder but the movie changed that feeling for me. And even left me with a small feeling of hope for the future.
Project Hail Mary starts with Ryland Grace waking up on a spaceship very far away from home and very alone. Het suffers from amnesia and through flashback sequences recovers the information on how and why he ended up in this place.
Grace remembers that he used to be an American middle-school science teacher and is a former molecular biologist. Scientists on earth have observed that the Sun was dimming. And from the Sun an infrared line was forming and moving towards Venus. It is named after the scientist who discovered it and thus called the Petrova Line. What this means is that within thirty years the dimming will result in catastrophic global cooling on earth.
In response all the nations on earth band together under the helm of one woman: Eva Stratt. Chosen by a variety of governments to recruit the best and brightest to save earth. And to Graces immense surprise they want him.
Grace figures out that the dimming of the Sun is caused by a single-celled organisms they call astrophage. And soon after it is discovered that the Sun is not unique in its predicament. Other stars are also effected with exception of one a star called Tau Ceti. Earth decides to send a manned space craft called the Hail Mary in what is essentially a suicide mission to collect data on the star.
Now back to the beginning: Grace is very far from home on the Hail Mary to collect data and send it back to Earth. He is also very alone. Two of his crew members don’t make the trip and it is down to him to figure this out. What happens however is something unthinkable.
Against all odds he makes it to Tau Ceti and instead of following a story of isolation and existentialism we meet Rocky.
Rocky is a real life alien and also a scientist in much the same situation as Grace. He lost his crew in space and is the sole survivor trying to find a solution to the Astrophage problem. He in terms of design is quite interesting with his rock-like, spidery appearance. Most of the time we like to imagine aliens to look a little like us. (it makes it easier to relate to, looking at Star Trek with the bowl cuts and glue on ears) Especially when their struggles mimic our own in depth and intensity.
But just like Grace you can't help but want to connect to him. I remember from the book being impressed by the proces of them learning to communicate with one another. As scientist they go through a series of test to figure out what the other understands. And how do you communicate concepts like sleep to a being you are not sure experiences the same sensation?
The relationship between Rocky and Grace is the beating heart of the film. In a story where the set up is loneliness they keep finding moments of great connection between characters. And through the (kinda cheesy) message of power of friendship they safe their collective planets.
I really love science fiction, like really love it. even when my actual life skills lean more towards art and communication. But what scifi does is shine a light on possabilaties for the future. And doing so hold a mirror to what the human experience currently is. I’ve become kind of tired with dystopian stories mainly because they are a little to real. The dark scary future is now and Project Hail Mary shows a way out. A version of where science is trusted and people try to work together to safe ourselves.
https://science.nasa.gov/the-science-behind-project-hail-mary
https://andyweirauthor.com
https://projecthailmary.org
