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Added second spoiler to describe difficulty of traveling from Ares III to Ares IV as another risk, from OP's comment
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IT Bear
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(Spolier:)

Option (b): send the Hermes on a fly-by trajectory to Earth for gravity assist to a fly-by trajectory to Mars, hoping that 1) the resupply from the Taiyang Shen is successful, 2) Mark can modify the MAV to be light enough to reach Mars' escape velocity and rendezvous with the Hermes, and 3) the Hermes can survive deep space for another 2 years past its maintenance window.

Edit: (Spolier:)

Edit: Mark still encountered plenty of difficulty trying to travel from Acidalia Planitia to Schiaparelli crater to meet his deadline of arriving at the Ares IV MAV days before the Hermes fly-by, and plenty of events threatened this: Global dust storms leaving him unable to recharge the rover for weeks at a time and missing the Hermes fly-by, rolling the rover & trailer on his way down the Schiaparelli crater, and an existential crisis during his travels of realizing he really was all alone on an entire planet by himself. This should have properly been added as risk b-2)

Option (b): send the Hermes on a fly-by trajectory to Earth for gravity assist to a fly-by trajectory to Mars, hoping that 1) the resupply from the Taiyang Shen is successful, 2) Mark can modify the MAV to be light enough to reach Mars' escape velocity and rendezvous with the Hermes, and 3) the Hermes can survive deep space for another 2 years past its maintenance window.

(Spolier:)

Option (b): send the Hermes on a fly-by trajectory to Earth for gravity assist to a fly-by trajectory to Mars, hoping that 1) the resupply from the Taiyang Shen is successful, 2) Mark can modify the MAV to be light enough to reach Mars' escape velocity and rendezvous with the Hermes, and 3) the Hermes can survive deep space for another 2 years past its maintenance window.

Edit: (Spolier:)

Edit: Mark still encountered plenty of difficulty trying to travel from Acidalia Planitia to Schiaparelli crater to meet his deadline of arriving at the Ares IV MAV days before the Hermes fly-by, and plenty of events threatened this: Global dust storms leaving him unable to recharge the rover for weeks at a time and missing the Hermes fly-by, rolling the rover & trailer on his way down the Schiaparelli crater, and an existential crisis during his travels of realizing he really was all alone on an entire planet by himself. This should have properly been added as risk b-2)

added 5 characters in body
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IT Bear
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Option (a): send the probe on a fly-by trajectory totowards Mars, use aerobraking and what little fuel it has to be captured, and eventually impact the surface without 1) destroying its cargo, and 2) landing more than 60 km away from Watney's position, and hope that Mark can survive another two years without 3) another airlock tearing open, 4) his water-reclaimer breaking (= dead), 5) his oxygenator breaking (= dead), 6) his hab, designed for a 31-day mission and already greatly overused, ripping open in some other location besides the airlocks (= most likely dead), and finally 7) Mark losing sanity from isolation for 2 additional years.

Option (a): send the probe on a fly-by trajectory to Mars, use aerobraking and what little fuel it has to be captured, and eventually impact the surface without 1) destroying its cargo, and 2) landing more than 60 km away from Watney's position, and hope that Mark can survive another two years without 3) another airlock tearing open, 4) his water-reclaimer breaking (= dead), 5) his oxygenator breaking (= dead), 6) his hab, designed for a 31-day mission and already greatly overused, ripping open in some other location besides the airlocks (= most likely dead), and finally 7) Mark losing sanity from isolation for 2 additional years.

Option (a): send the probe on a fly-by trajectory towards Mars, use aerobraking and what little fuel it has to be captured, and eventually impact the surface without 1) destroying its cargo, and 2) landing more than 60 km away from Watney's position, and hope that Mark can survive another two years without 3) another airlock tearing open, 4) his water-reclaimer breaking (= dead), 5) his oxygenator breaking (= dead), 6) his hab, designed for a 31-day mission and already greatly overused, ripping open in some other location besides the airlocks (= most likely dead), and finally 7) Mark losing sanity from isolation for 2 additional years.

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IT Bear
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The real question is, Why would they risk Watney's life for another two years? ...when they've already chosen option (b).

Option (a): send the probe on a fly-by trajectory to Mars, use aerobraking and what little fuel it has to be captured, and eventually impact the surface without 1) destroying its cargo, and 2) landing more than 60 km away from Watney's position, and hope that Mark can survive another two years without 3) another airlock tearing open, 4) his water-reclaimer breaking (= dead), 5) his oxygenator breaking (= dead), 6) his hab, designed for a 31-day mission and already greatly overused, ripping open in some other location besides the airlocks (= most likely dead), and finally 7) Mark losing sanity from isolation for 2 additional years.

Remember at this point, Mark has accidentally fried Pathfinder so he once again has no way to talk to NASA. He modified the drill he was using to cut holes in the rover from using batteries to running off hab power from a cable, and leaned it up against Pathfinder with exposed wires... oops. Hab power has 6 amps, Pathfinder was only built for 0.6 amps. At this point, he had to get to the Ares IV MAV just to make contact again. In the book, Mark's great sense of humor is what keeps him sane most of the time, but two years is a serious test on anyone's sanity.

Option (b): send the Hermes on a fly-by trajectory to Earth for gravity assist to a fly-by trajectory to Mars, hoping that 1) the resupply from the Taiyang Shen is successful, 2) Mark can modify the MAV to be light enough to reach Mars' escape velocity and rendezvous with the Hermes, and 3) the Hermes can survive deep space for another 2 years past its maintenance window.

So essentially, you question is "why, when the Hermes was already on its way to Mars, did it not just drop off the care package and leave Mark for another 2 years?" "This would've been safer for Watney and would've saved the Ares IV MAV"

Let's call this option (c), and you will see very soon here that all we're doing is stacking the worst risks from both options (High probability of killing 1 person vs. low probability of killing 6 people) with the only real payoff being: We get to keep the Ares IV MAV.

Option (c): send the Hermes on a fly-by trajectory to Earth for gravity assist to a fly-by trajectory to Mars, hoping that b-1) the resupply from the Taiyang Shen is successful, b-3) the Hermes can survive deep space for another 2 years past its maintenance window, release the probe on approach at escape velocity towards Mars, use aerobraking and what little fuel it has to be captured, and eventually impact the surface without a-1) destroying its cargo, and a-2) landing more than 60 km away from Watney's position, and hope that Mark can survive another two years without a-3) another airlock tearing open, a-4) his water-reclaimer breaking (= dead), a-5) his oxygenator breaking (= dead), a-6) his hab, designed for a 31-day mission and already greatly overused, ripping open in some other location besides the airlocks (= most likely dead), and finally a-7) Mark losing sanity from isolation for 2 additional years.