It also stars Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Mackenzie Davis, Donald Glover, and Benedict Wong.

A severe dust storm threatens to topple their Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) and in the ensuing evacuation, astronaut Mark Watney is struck by debris and presumed dead.

Watney's immediate concern is food; being a botanist, he creates a garden inside the Hab using Martian soil fertilized with the crew's bio-waste and manufactures water from leftover rocket fuel.

Sanders orders routine safety inspections bypassed to expedite the mission, but an oversight causes catastrophe as the resupply spacecraft disintegrates shortly after launch.

Astrophysicist Rich Purnell devises an alternative plan: have the Taiyang Shen launcher rendezvous with and resupply the Hermes, which will then use Earth's gravity to "slingshot" back to Mars two years earlier than Ares IV.

Commander Lewis quickly improvises, using an explosive to breach a forward airlock, resulting in air violently escaping and slowing down the Hermes.

"[8] Damon prepared for the role by a different method: "For me, the rehearsal process was sitting with Ridley and going kind of line-by-line and moment-by-moment through the script and playing out a plan of attack for what we wanted each scene to accomplish.

"[9] The Media Action Network for Asian-Americans (MANAA) criticized the casting of white actress Mackenzie Davis as Mindy Park, whom it said author Andy Weir had described as Korean-American.

'"[19] Korda Studios, a location 26 kilometres (16 mi) west of Budapest, Hungary, in the wine-making village of Etyek, was chosen for filming interior scenes of The Martian.

External scenes depicting Mars were filmed in Wadi Rum, a UNESCO world heritage site in Jordan, over eight days in March 2015.

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "The scenes back on Earth provide a hectic, densely populated counterweight to the Martian aridity, which is magnificently represented by exteriors shot in the vicinity of Wadi Rum in Jordan.

[34] When Scott and producer Mark Huffam had their first production meeting, they called NASA and spoke with its film and television liaison Bert Ulrich.

[34] NASA staff members that joined the effort included James L. Green, director of the Planetary Science Division, and Dave Lavery, program executive for Solar System Exploration.

[38] Green arranged an eight-hour tour of the Johnson Space Center in Houston for production designer Arthur Max, who met with specialists and took hundreds of photos.

[36][38] The production designer created a futuristic, heavily modernized Mission Control as a studio set; Ars Technica described its depiction as "the space agency that we all dream of" and the opposite of the real Johnson Center's appearance as "a run down college campus".

"[35] As part of the collaboration, the production's NASA liaison included the front page of the script for the film in the payload of the spacecraft Orion during its Exploration Flight Test 1 on December 5, 2014.

It establishes the stakes, offers a sympathetic lead character, shows off an all-star cast, tosses out a potential catchphrase, and ends on a grimly humorous tagline.

[37] At the end of August, Fox released another video, presenting it as a special episode of the TV series StarTalk in which astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses the hazards of traveling to Mars.

[62] In September, Scott's RSA Films released a teaser for The Martian that depicted Damon wearing Under Armour sports clothing and being active in his off-world tasks.

[38] In November 2015, 20th Century Fox announced The Martian VR Experience, a "virtual reality adventure" where viewers play as Mark Watney and reenact scenes from the film.

The magazine said negative factors included Damon not being a consistent draw at the box office, Gravity and Interstellar setting high expectations, and Scott's "stumble" with his previous film Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014).

The website's critics consensus read, "Smart, thrilling, and surprisingly funny, The Martian offers a faithful adaptation of the bestselling book that brings out the best in leading man Matt Damon and director Ridley Scott.

"[117] Variety reported, "Critics are calling the film a funny, thrilling ride, and a return to form for [Ridley] Scott after The Counselor and Exodus: Gods and Kings fell flat.

[119]Manohla Dargis, of The New York Times, stated that the film "involves a dual journey into outer and inner space, a trip that takes you into that immensity called the universe and deep into the equally vast landscape of a single consciousness.

For this accidental castaway, space is the place where he's physically marooned, but also where his mind is set free", from a film director, whose "great, persistent theme is what it means to be human".

Jaime N. Christley, writing in Slant Magazine, commented, "It goes in for the idea of texture, tics, and human behavior, but there's no conviction, and no real push for eccentricity.

"[120] In The Village Voice, Stephanie Zacharek stated that the actors "are treated as accessories", and that the director is "workmanlike in his approach to science, which always trumps magic in The Martian—that's the point.

"[121] In Cinemixtape, J. Olson commented: "Ridley Scott and company have concocted the most colossally mediocre sci-fi movie of the decade, all in pursuit of empty backslapping and a grade school level celebration of science.

[127][128] Solanum watneyi, a species of bush tomato from Australia, has been named after the character of Mark Watney, to honor the fictional heroic botanist portrayal.

[134] Green said, "The Martian is reasonably realistic", though he said the film's hazardous dust storm, despite reaching speeds of 120 miles per hour (190 km/h), would in reality have weak force.