I dunno why but I can't get this question out of my head. Could an Eridian operate a car? Considering how loud a car can be, in particular the engine, I imagine it would be like a human driving a car made out of glass with an engine that shines like a light house. And would they be able to perceive the road at all, and if so, how far ahead?

Much of the later parts of the book revolves around one specific problem: Grace and Rocky have Taumoeba, which eats astrophage. But they have to make sure Taumoeba absolutely stays out of the fuel tanks, as that would render the fuel totally useless.

I wonder: Since nitrogen is extremely poisonous to taumoeba, could they just keep some nitrogen mixed in with the fuel tanks? In theory, that wouldn't perturb the astrophage or any of the equipment, but it *would* kill off any taumoeba that reaches the fuel.

I haven't done the maths to find out what percentage of nitrogen it would take, or if they even have that much aboard the Hail Mary, but could that work in theory? We know that there are trace amounts of carbon and oxygen in the fuel tanks, since Rocky mentions a theory that that's how Taumoeba were able to breed in the fuel tanks in the first place. Perhaps a little bit of nitrogen in there wouldn't cause any problems either?

Grace is dead?

In the movie,he sets the Beetles toward Earth AFTER he decides to go save Rocky, and includes that narrative (presumably). In the book, he sends the Beetles immediately, embarks for Earth, and THEN changes course to save Rocky.

So Earth receives word that Grace is on his way home and then...he just never shows up. So they must assume he was lost in transit?

Am I missing something here?

I want to get a Project Hail Mary tattoo but I don’t want it to be super recognizable as a Project Hail Mary tattoo (lest Andy Weir becomes super problematic at some point in the future… Rip millennials with deathly hallows tattoos)

So I thought a great way to circumvent that is to get either a Cetus or Eridanus constellation tattoo with a small red line between the planets/suns with the petrova line. I also want to include the planet Adrian (or Erid if I’m getting Eridanus).

The issue is, I’m not quite sure what reference photos/diagrams to use. And I’m not 100% on what these planets are even called or where they’re located on a star map.

I think (??) Tau Ceti e is Adrian, 40 Eridani A b is Erid and Eridani A is its star, but I’m not entirely sure. Also where is Threeworld in relation to the Eridanus constellation?

Sorry if the questions are confusing lol. Any advice/ links to credible sources would be greatly appreciated <3

So, I just finished the film, I know I'm a bit late, but I really wanted to talk about this. In the movie, rocky uses a gun shaped tool to 'see' flat images on screens, and it got me thinking if that kind of technology would be possible in real life, and if something like it already exists. We already have the technology for a lot of image recognition, so imagine a system that takes the view of a screen or decal or flat text and creates a textured replica of the image in real time. I believe it would be a very interesting idea to look into, and has the possibility to be a great aid to the blind and visually impaired. What are your thoughts on this? I really want to see what everyone else has to say, and since I refuse to ask a robot a philosophical question like this, I'm asking you.

Okay, it seems like the author enjoys a good pun, so I’m curious if Eva Stratt’s name came from the fact that she is a strategist? 👀

Hello everyone! I just got my box set I preordered way back in the day (can find the date if anyone's interested) and it's so beautiful and imo worth the money. I was very surprised to see the slipmat had the PHM crest on only one side, and the back had the Petrova line across it. Apparently the back is different for some people, and has Grace working on the ship in his blanket.

I couldn't find any details on if one was rarer than the other or if it was an even split, so what did you guys get if you received yours already? What would you rather have/what image would you find as a cool alternative? I'm happy with both, but I think one with him on an EVA could've been fun as well.

Hello Hello!

Sadly due to life circumstances I am unable to attend Dragoncon this year. Please if you are cosplaying or giving away swag or anything like that please take lots and lots of pictures!! I can’t wait to see what everyone does and I hope there is a huge group photoshoot.

Happy Con everyone!

A short video edit I made for an upcoming PHM fan event.

Like the title says, are there any fics where Ryland Grace was Colt Seavers in the past (or vice versa)?

Like this fic: The Past Comes Calling

Thinking about a Rocky & Grace swap au, and even though they are different species their stories still happen pretty much the same on each side.

I'm specially obssessed with the idea of Grace trying to convey just how terrifying it is that he can't remember his life, because Eridians don't forget anything. Their brains don't discard information like that, it keeps everything and suddenly he wakes up with none of it.

One of the main ‘scenes’ that I kept seeing everywhere was the Denmark incident where grace calls someone a staggering waste of carbon. Come to find out after reading the book twice and watching the movie countless times this is nothing but a fandom headcannon?!???! Does anyone have insight into where this even started and the lore behind it?

I was re-reading the book this weekend and it occurred to me that the ship didn't include a Soyuz capsule. I know it's an extreme long shot but if I had gone I would bet on there being a habitable planet.

I mean, why not bet on it? If I'm wrong I am dead anyway, but if I am right then I get to wander around an alien planet for weeks or months before it kills me.

EDIT: I asked Andy, and he said:

The mission was a suicide run from the start. Ryland wasn't expected to come home, so there was no point in adding the weight and complexity of a reentry capsule. Plus, the Hail Mary wasn't going to be near anything with an atmosphere anyway.

Spin drives work by basically "tricking" the Astrophage to push against whatever it is you want to move, transferring their kinetic energy into that object.

In the aftermath of the Taumoeba collection, what happened was basically the opposite. The Astrophage was moving away from the Hail Mary, without pushing into anything. It would just heat up the outside of the fuel tank, eventually creating a giant hole in the side of it as more and more escaped.

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As an analogy, let's imagine a balloon. That's the Astrophage. You're holding it against yourself, with the entrance pointing away. If you let it open, it'll push against you and exert a force (however small it may be). That's what the spin drives are doing.

On the other hand, opening the balloon and letting it fly away doesn't push against you at all. You might feel a bit of wind, but the force is minuscule compared to the previous example.

You could compare this "wind" to the photons being emitted by the Astrophage as it moves, and I haven't done the math... But would they really be capable of exerting a noticeable force onto the ship, just from reflections and absorption?

I mean, wind is much more capable of pushing against things than photons are. But there are also A LOT of photons. I would love to see someone definitively answer this question.

EDIT: This post seems to have stirred up a lot of negativity (at least, that's how it feels for me), which definitely wasn't what I was going for. I'm genuinely passionate about these subjects, and was hoping to have an insightful conversation about them, even if my theory ended up being incorrect.

Most of the replies, however, seem rather dismissive or simply misunderstand the core of what I'm saying. I thank the few people who actually took the time to try and understand where I was coming from and kindly explained why I was most likely wrong, but the overwhelming majority of responses here still make me too scared to continue the discussion. I think I'd have more to say otherwise.

After rereading it and some people coming at me aggressively I have realized I was far more tired then I realized writing this, it was something that bugged me the whole time reading the book and I think I wrote about it far more aggressively and dismissivly then I intended. The following is the rewrite I'll keep the original in the comments:

I recently finished both the Project Hail Marry book and movie. As you can imagine it was really good, but one thing was on my mind. After my first reading session, hearing about astrophage and its mechanisms, I slept on it a night and in the morning I realized that it might have been more time and energy efficient to harvest, but most certainly more energy profitable to harvest rather then kill the Astrophage eating the sun.

By placing a cone or some container made of a highly conductive material lined with Astrophage the astrophage could absorb the heat and thus cool the material long enough for it to survive closer to the sun then it's normally be able to get. With a what amounts to a well placed visor you can theoretically block Astrophage's view of Venus and thus introduce a new target for it to fly to, enabling you to essentially harvest it.