Project Hail Mary
From Reboil
A science fiction book by Andy Weir in which a amnesiac high school science teacher wakes up during a mysterious mission to save the world.
Stats
- Author: Andy Weir
- Publication date: 2021-05-04[cmt 1]
Details
People
- Annie Shapiro
- (c16) DNA expert. Meets Stratt, Grace, and the other crew members.
- Ilyukhina
- (c1) Dead crewmate of the Hail Mary. Ryland cannot recall their name. (c4; a.k.a. “ИЛЮХИНА”) Ryland remembers her name while ejecting her corpse out an airlock. (c16) Meets Stratt, Grace, and the other crew members.
- Lokken, Dr.
- (c8) A scientist who lobbies Dr. Stratt to give the Hail Mary artificial gravity by designing it to transform into a centrifuge. Stratt assigns Lokken the responsibility to lead the centrifuge engineering design and manufacture.
- Martin DuBois
- (c16) Member of the prime crew. Meets Stratt, Grace, and the other crew members.
- Olesya Ilyukhina
- See Ilyukhina
- Robert Redell
- (c13) A solar farm entrepreneur incarcerated in Auckland Prison for criminal negligence and embezzlement. Proposed the Blackpanel idea to Stratt.
- Ryland Grace
- Biologist turned school teacher.
- Rocky
- Lone pilot.
- Steve Hatch
- (c18) A university professor of University of British Columbia who is designing, manufacturing, and launching the beetles for sending results from Tau Ceti to Earth.
- Stratt, Dr.
- The head of the Hail Mary Project and effective dictator appointed by the UN to save Earth.
- Yáo
- (c1) Dead crewmate of the Hail Mary. Ryland cannot recall their name. (c4; a.k.a. 「姚」, “Yáo Li-Jie”) Ryland remembers their full name while ejecting their corpse out an airlock. (c16) Meets Stratt, Grace and the other crew members.
Places
- Adrian
- (c16) The planet in the Tau Ceti system that is a breeding ground for astrophage. Rocky names it after their partner but Grace gives it the name “Adrian” so it is pronounceable by humans.
- 40 Eridani
- (c8) Origin of the Blip-A.
- Tau Ceti
- (c1) Grace unknowingly arrives at this star system. (c5) Grace remembers that Tau Ceti is a star 11.9 light-years from Earth seems uninfected by astrophage despite being near the center of the infection among nearby stars, according to a chinese scientist named Xi.
Things
- astrophage
- (c3) A space-faring solar radiation blocking microorganism that threatens the habitability of Earth.
- beetles
- (c4) Four trapezoidal space vehicles on the Hail Mary designed to send results back to Earth. (c18) Designed by Steve Natch of University of British Columbia for the Hail Mary crew to carry 4 terabytes of data and physical samples back to Earth.
- Blackpanel
- (c13) A solar power device proposed by Robert Redell to breed and charge astrophage at scale.
- Blip-A
- (c7) The literal designation given by the Hail Maryʼs automatic systems to an unidentified object that Ryland Grace deduces is an alien spacecraft.
- taumeoba
- (c21) A microbe from Tau Ceti that predates on astrophage.
Narrative
| Chapter | Description | Characters |
|---|---|---|
| c1 | Dr. Ryland Grace is woken up disoriented by a robot. | Ryland |
| c2 | ||
| c3 | ||
| c4 | Ryland comes to terms with the fact that he is in a solar system different from his own on a one-way trip. Ryland deduces the Hail Mary uses astrophage for fuel. Ryland recalls discovering the astrophage homeostasis temperature of 96.415°C. Ryland recalls killing an astrophage with a nanoneedle and discovering it is a microbe consisting mostly of water. Ryland recalls his students asking about his work on astrophages and informing them of the apocalyptic extinctions and famines to come in three decades. Ryland returns to Stratt's lab and insists on continuing work on the astrophages. Stratt gives him 3 to research. In the present, Ryland diafovers the four beetles designed to return data and physical samples to Earth: John, Paul, George, and Ringo. | Ryland, Stratt, school kids |
| c5 | ||
| c6 | ||
| c7 | ||
| c8 | ||
| c9 | ||
| c10 | Ryland, Rocky | |
| c11 | Grace and Rocky being eatablishing common units of measure. Grace takes a two hour nap after being awake for more than 48 hours. Grace deduces Rocky is blind. In the past, Stratt attends court to officially snub patent trolls in person. Grace prepares computers to decipher Rocky's speech with Fourier transform software but finds Rocky absent. Grace leaves a note that he will take an 8-hour nap. | Grace, Rocky, Stratt |
| c12 | Grace wakes up late. Grace and Rocky determine a method for measuring mass. Rocky asks Grace to watch him sleep. Grace learns Rocky is the sole survivor of the Blip-A. | |
| c13 | Lokken proposes to Grace using astrophage as a radiation shield for the Hail Mary. | |
| c14 | Grace tells Stratt half of humanity will die in 19 years due to falling solar radiation. Stratt demands strategies to geoëngineer global warming to extend 19 years to 27. Since the Hail Mary will take 13 years to travel to Tau Ceti and another 13 to return results. Grace explains to Rocky how Rocky's crewmates likely died of radiation sickness. Grace explains that Rocky survived because their job as engineer kept them close to astrophage containers; astrophage absorbs all radiation. Grace remembers a trip to Antarctica to nuke glaciers with fusion bombs. In the present, Grace and Rocky discuss how they see through light and sound respectively. Rocky constructs a mobile spacesuit for themselves to explore the interior of the Hail Mary. | |
| c15 | Grace gives Rocky a tour of the Hail Mary. Rocky and Grace decide to disconnect the Blip-A so they can create artificial gravity to use Grace's extensive scientific equipment which Rocky lacks. Grace and Stratt talk to Dr. Lamai whose automatic coma patient caretaker machine they plan to use for the Hail Mary crew. Stratt demands that all Hail Mary team members submit to genetic tests for the coma-resistent genes, including herself and Grace. Rocky asks for help in collecting astrophage samples on Tau Ceti. Grace shows Rocky. Rocky explains they have been in Tau Ceti for 46 earth years. Grace is surprised to learn Eridians live on average 689 earth years and Rocky is 291 years old. | |
| c16 | Rocky says his home planet Erid has 72 earth years until astrophage dimming of 40 Eridani causes problems. Grace explains Earth has only 14 years until the majority of humans die due to Earth's comparably thinner atmosphere. Grace reveals his trip to Tau Ceti was one-way. Rocky offers the 2 million kilograms of astrophage Grace needs to return to Earth due to having extra. In the past, Grace and Stratt meet the prime crew (Yáo, Ilyukhina, and Martin DuBois) and backup crew (Captain Yang, Annie Shapiro, a Russian woman). Stratt regrets that the US and Russia forced her to include women in the crew due to the hazard of romantic drama on the mission. | |
| c17 | ||
| c18 | In the past, Grace and the Hail Mary crew watch a launch of cargo and supplies to construct the Hail Mary. In the present, Grace fails to find an astrophage predator in the sample they collected. Grace and Rocky create a plan to drop a xenonite chain into the atmosphere of Adrian in order to retrieve more biological samples. Grace asks Rocky why the Blip-A has excess astrophage fuel; Rocky explains the Eridiansʼs original plan. Grace deduces the Eridians lack a theory of relativity and the associated time dilation. In the past, Steve Hatch meets with Grace to demonstrate the beetle prototype named Pete. Steve receives a milligram of astrophage. | Grace, Rocky, Steve Hatch |
| c19 | ||
| c20 | ||
| c21 | ||
| c22 | ||
| c23 | ||
| c24 | ||
| c25 | ||
| c26 | ||
| c27 | ||
| c28 | ||
| c29 | ||
| c30 |
History
- 2020-03-20: Film adaptation announced.[1]
- 2021-05-04: Novel published.
See also
External links
References
- ↑ Mia Galuppo. (2020-03-27). “Ryan Gosling is attached to star in and produce an adaptation of the new novel from 'The Martian' writer Andy Weir, 'Project Hail Mary.'”. hollywoodreporter.com. Accessed 2025-10-31. “Ryan Gosling is attached to star in and produce an adaptation of the new novel from The Martian writer Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary. ¶ Project Hail Mary, which will be published in Spring 2021 by Random House, centers on an astronaut, who would be played by Gosling, on a spaceship that is tasked with saving the planet. ”.
Footnotes
Comments
- ↑ Baltakatei: 2025-10-31: Note, the film adaptation, Project Hail Mary (film), was announced in 2020-03, more than a year before the publication of the novel.
