How Well Do You Survive with a Deadline?

     

     Mark is not your average castaway in your average castaway situation. Mark is an astronaut who has been abandoned on Mars. He has his brains, limited resources, and an unforgiving environment. Still seems like a regular castaway story right? It’s just set on Mars is the only big difference right? Well, Mark has something different going for him that most castaways do not have, a timeline for being rescued.

    Unlike in most castaway stories, Mark makes contact with people back home, and they launch a rescue operation. Not only does Mark know help will come, but he is given an idea of when they will arrive. This is a huge bonus for a castaway. With a deadline in place, Mark knows just about how long he will have to wait for help. He knows that he will get off the planet. He knows he will go back home. He knows that he will die of starvation before that happens. He knows that a freak accident in his shelter could jettison him into the deadly Martian landscape, where his corpse would be visible for the world to see until a dust storm buries it. Mark knows that even with help on the way, he won’t be alive to receive it. Unless he does something to change his fate.  

     With an idea of how long he must survive, he rations his food, and comes up with ingenious methods of farming more. He preps a rover for what he knows will be a long and dangerous trip to the rescue site. He salvages everything he can if it will help him in some way. Mark knows that he can easily die before rescue arrives, but instead of hindering him, this motivates him. Mark works overtime to find methods of prolonging his survival, from farming potatoes, to using a mini-nuclear reactor to heat the cockpit of his long distance rover. Mark uses everything he has been given as much as they will help him. He has to see the day that rescue arrives, and with knowledge of when it will get there, he knows how to plan his future. He knows he has to get off Mars.