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What are the plans for the Ares IV mission after the rescue operation? They can't use the MAV that was sent for the mission, because it is in poor shape.

If they send a new MAV as fast as possible to a nearby site, will it be there early enough? Or do they need to reschedule the mission?

Did I just miss the discussion of Ares IV's future, or does the book really do not state anything about that topic?

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  • I can't recall, but given that the site was potentially radiation contaminated and had suffered multiple explosions, etc I'd assume they would simply write off the whole programme and start again.
    – Valorum
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 17:53
  • They can't use the Ares IV MAV because its ... gone! I don't get Valorum's comment about multiple explosions though. That didn't happen at the Ares IV site. But there is garbage all over the place that was torn out of the MAV, meaning a lot of FOD on the ground, plus the entire bottom half of the MAV itself which doesn't go back into space. That might make the IV site unsuitable to land a second MAV and the mission's MDV.
    – davidbak
    Commented Jul 29, 2022 at 23:48

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The novel has no information regarding that, whereas the film does show a post-script 5 years laterand there is another mission with some of the same crew

That crew is identified as Ares V. Given that the dialogue makes it sound as though the most recent mission was Ares 3, it would seem that they just skipped 4.

Vincent: "The Ares 5 team will rendezvous with the Hermes...from there they will have 414 days of space travel ahead of them."

Reporter: "Have the goals changed from the previous mission to the Ares 5 program? And what do you hope to achieve this time around?"

Vincent: "Well, no. The goals have always been the same for the Ares program. This time, of course, we hope to bring all the astronauts back at the same time."

Additionally, TV Reporter: "There you have it, 5 years after the rescue of Mark Watney, an Ares V is on its way to Mars"

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  • Thanks for your answer. If they took part of the Ares 3 crew (and that Chinese guy I guess?), that sounds pretty unfair to the original Ares 4 crew. Someone had to be kicked out then, right?
    – Keba
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 19:38
  • In the movie, it looks like at least two opted out (Johansen and Beck seem to be together and have had a child) Speculation: Lewis is probably out for a couple of reasons: 1) because she doesn't want to have to deal with the responsibility of possibly, potentially losing another crew member 2) she is probably somewhat emotionally compromised because of leaving Watney. That can mess with your head. 3) Also, she did, in some measure, violate orders by executing the maneuver back to Mars and as the crew of Apollo 7* could tell you, insubordination can put a damper on future flights.
    – NKCampbell
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 19:54
  • *Apollo 7 reference: space.com/17522-apollo-7.html
    – NKCampbell
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 19:54

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