Project Hail Mary with Andy Weir

Summary

StarTalk Radio: "Project Hail Mary" with Andy Weir

Host: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Guest: Andy Weir (science fiction author, “The Martian,” “Artemis,” and “Project Hail Mary”)
Co-Host: Chuck Nice
Air Date: April 7, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively, science-rich episode of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Chuck Nice welcome back frequent guest and beloved sci-fi author Andy Weir to explore the science, story, and cinematic adaptation of his novel Project Hail Mary. With characteristic humor and depth, the trio dive into Andy’s creative process, the real and speculative science behind the book, alien life design, and the philosophical undertones of isolation and heroism. Along the way, they dissect Hollywood’s approach (and missteps) toward depicting extraterrestrials, celebrate Weir’s commitment to scientific rigor, and share both behind-the-scenes details and writing wisdom.
Note: Spoilers are plentiful (except for the ending).

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Major Themes and Discussion Points

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Andy Weir’s Sci-Fi Trajectory

Timestamps: 02:13 – 05:10

• Background: Andy Weir, former software engineer, rose to fame with "The Martian," which quickly became a movie.
  • “At the time I was really into Red Sox games ... and they had a sideline reporter named Heidi Watney. ... Mark’s named after you.” — Andy Weir on character naming, (03:07)
• Hollywood Success: The adaptation journey from book to film, snagging Ridley Scott and major stars (Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain) for The Martian.
• "Artemis" remains unadapted—“I want a movie.” (05:18)
• Project Hail Mary is now a movie starring Ryan Gosling (as “Ken” from Barbie fame).

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Science Behind Project Hail Mary: The Astrophage Dilemma

Timestamps: 06:17 – 08:26

• Central Premise:
  • Alien microbe “Astrophage” infects stars, absorbing solar energy and dimming the sun, threatening Earth's viability.
  • “It lives on the surface of the sun and absorbs energy ... and it spores out away from stars to go infect other stars. It’s just basically like mold or algae.” — Andy Weir, (06:45)
• Interstellar Mission Motivation:
  • All local stars dimming except Tau Ceti, sparking a desperate Earth mission to investigate.
  • Astrophage becomes the spacecraft's propulsion fuel due to its mass-energy conversion potential.
• Weir’s approach: Tie plausible science with fictional extension.
  • “Were you high when you thought of this?” — Chuck Nice, (08:07)
  • “It’s completely feasible. It’s circular and feasible all at once.” — Chuck Nice, (08:16)

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Weir’s Commitment to Scientific Accuracy

Timestamps: 08:29 – 09:21

• Tyson praises Weir's meticulousness; Andy reveals:
  • “Whenever I was tempted to use hand-wavy physics … I honestly thought to myself, what if Neil deGrasse Tyson reads this?” — Andy Weir, (08:55)
  • “He knows I’d be tweeting about it later!” — Neil deGrasse Tyson, (09:09)

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Crafting Alien Life: The Iridans

Timestamps: 10:08 – 16:45, 18:30 – 21:12

• Planetary Biology Ground-Up:
  • Original inspiration: Exoplanet orbiting 40 Eridani (later proven nonexistent).
  • Constraints: Proximity to star (hot); how to have liquid water? Solution: High atmospheric pressure with ammonia-rich air, strong magnetic field (planet spins every 6 hours!).
• Biology & Society:
  • No free oxygen; life evolved without vision, relying on echolocation.
  • “Apex predators” analogous to deep-sea Earth creatures.
  • “The Iridians ... do everything through echolocation ... so they have this constant input of their 3D environment in all directions.” — Andy Weir, (20:09)
• Anatomy:
  • Rocky the alien: five pentagonally symmetrical limbs, no front or back.
  • “The creature does not have a front or a back, right?” — Neil deGrasse Tyson, (19:09)
  • “He has nerve endings for sound all over his body ... they don’t have that spatial map in their head [like humans].” — Andy Weir, (19:21, 21:22)
• Culture Clash:
  • Tyson: “Most Hollywood aliens are just actors in a suit … but you had the freedom to create truly non-humanoid life.” (34:01)

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Communication and Cross-Species Friendship

Timestamps: 27:21 – 28:26

• Development of an interspecies pidgin language via computer waveform analysis.
• “Rocky is not speaking poetic … he’s talking like real simple words for dumb human.” — Andy Weir, (27:29)
• “They started with the number one … what do you say for one? Okay, cool. Two…” — Andy Weir and Chuck Nice, (28:11)

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Pop Culture Nods and Humor

Timestamps: 24:12 – 26:38

• Rocky (the alien) & Adrian (his mate) — a playful nod to the Philadelphia boxer and wife in "Rocky."
  • “He asks Rocky, is there someone back at home? ... And Rocky goes, Adrian.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson & Andy Weir, (24:55)
• Hail Mary ship, captain Ryland Grace:
  • “The Hail Mary is full of grace. I couldn’t resist it. I am weak.” — Andy Weir, (28:34)
• Marketing banter: missed chance to have “Rocky” run up the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps (26:01)

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Character Study & Narrative Themes

Timestamps: 29:09 – 31:56

• Protagonist Ryland Grace—reluctant, selfish, "greatness thrust upon him."
  • “He was a reluctant participant in this mission, but everyone knew they needed him, so they drugged him and put him on.” — Andy Weir, (30:26)
• Friendship motivates genuine risk-taking:
  • “The first time he was willing to really risk his neck was because of the friendship he had made with Rocky.” — Andy Weir, (31:23)
• Differences between risking life for the species (certain death) versus for a friend (high risk) (31:42)

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Hollywood Adaptation Insights

Timestamps: 35:10 – 39:47

• Non-Humanoid Aliens:
  • High production budget enabled elaborate alien design, unlike common TV-budget prosthetics.
• Environmental Reality:
  • Rocky’s environment: 29 atmospheres, heat, ammonia; boundary with human living space uses “xenonite” — fictional but plausible advanced material tech.
  • “Iridians have much better materials technology … they’re material scientists.” — Andy Weir, (36:18)
• Science Gaps:
  • Iridians don’t know relativity, leading to excess fuel (story device).
  • “So that’s the evidence. They didn’t know relativity, otherwise they would have done the proper calculation.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson, (37:16)
• Scenes Left Out:
  • Regret over cutting the “nuke Antarctica for greenhouse effect” sequence for runtime.
  • “They set off a bunch of nuclear explosions in Antarctica ... so that Earth will retain more heat … ‘We need some global warming!’ ” — Andy Weir, (38:09–38:51)

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Discussions on Writing and Self-Publishing

Timestamps: 41:44 – 42:41

• Andy Weir’s Writing Advice:
  1. “You have to actually write. Ideating and imagining and world-building is not writing. You need to type.” — Andy Weir, (41:44)
  2. Don’t tell friends/family your story—write it instead to satisfy audience need.
  3. “There’s never been a better time in human history to self-publish.” — Andy Weir, (42:10)
  • Andy initially self-published on Kindle Direct.

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Notable Quotes

• “Whenever I was tempted to use hand-wavy physics or take a shortcut and not be accurate, I honestly thought to myself, ‘What if Neil deGrasse Tyson reads this?’” — Andy Weir, (08:55)
• “Constraints are the soul of creativity to all engineers.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson, (13:56)
• “I want a movie.” — Andy Weir on Artemis, (05:18)
• “The Hail Mary is full of grace. I could not resist it. I am weak.” — Andy Weir, (28:34)
• “He doesn’t want to save the world … he’s cast into this spot, kind of against his will.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson, (29:46)
• “It’s like even if all of humanity wanted to help him, which was the case in The Martian, there was very little they can do.” — Andy Weir, (29:36)
• “Most Hollywood aliens are just actors in a suit … but you had the freedom to create truly non-humanoid life.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson, (34:01)

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Key Takeaways for Fans & New Listeners

• Project Hail Mary draws upon real and speculative astrophysics, giving both the threat (Astrophage) and the alien life a foundation in plausible science.
• Andy Weir values and maintains scientific accuracy, with a humorous awareness of the fine line between science and storytelling.
• The novel and its adaptation explore loneliness, reluctant heroism, and the power of unlikely friendship (especially across species).
• Hollywood’s investment enabled radical alien design, breaking from “actor in a suit” traditions.
• Aspiring writers are encouraged to persist, write consistently, avoid talking their stories away, and embrace today’s self-publishing opportunities.

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Suggested Listening Segments

• Astrophage and scientific rigor: 06:17–09:21
• Iridian world-building and biology: 10:08–16:45, 18:30–21:12
• Hollywood adaptation/alien design: 34:01–36:20
• Writing advice: 41:44–42:41

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Signature StarTalk Blend: Science, banter, pop-culture riffs, deep-dives into the creative process, and laughs abound.
**Listeners will leave not only understanding Project Hail Mary but also gaining broader insights into how hard science informs heartfelt fiction—and how Hollywood and authors can work together to bring new visions to life.

Transcript

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[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Is there Andy Weir in the house? Yes, he is author of the novel Project Hail Mary.

[Chuck Nice]

That's correct.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We're gonna talk to him, but there's gonna be spoilers.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, lots of spoilers. But you know why? Cause you didn't read the damn book.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's right.

[Chuck Nice]

That's the problem.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Coming up on StarTalk. Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins. This is StarTalk. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist. And right next to me, I got Lord Chuck. Nice.

[Chuck Nice]

What's up, man?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

How you feeling, man?

[Chuck Nice]

I'm feeling great.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah?

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You look good.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, thank you, sir.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You know, looking healthy.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, that may not be the case, but, you know, it's good to look

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

that way, whether or not you actually are.

[Chuck Nice]

Who cares if I'm actually healthy or not, as long as I look good.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We got a good show today. Certainly we have a repeat guest.

[Chuck Nice]

That's correct. Many times.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Many times. I've looked at the numbers of his appearances. Hasn't boy been on this show that many times? Yeah. And I said no. Yeah, we have the one, the only Andy. Weird Andy.

[Andy Weir]

Hello.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Welcome back to StarTalk.

[Andy Weir]

Thanks for having me.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's like your sixth time.

[Andy Weir]

You think you guys would learn by

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

now, you'd say, but you keep writing books and we keep bringing you back.

[Andy Weir]

I like it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You are birthed into this world as a. Was it a software engineer?

[Andy Weir]

Well, it took me a while between birth and becoming a software engineer, but

[Chuck Nice]

yes, I Was gonna say that is. That was once a seriously developmental womb.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah, There wasn't a lot of software engineering in 1972. I mean, there was some, though.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I mean, Apollo Program turned sci fi novelist.

[Andy Weir]

Yes, sir.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Extraordinaire. Man from the Martian. A best selling book. Yeah. Which became a best.

[Chuck Nice]

A very popular movie

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

movie with all kinds of marquee actors in it.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Jessica Chastain, Matt Damon and Matt Damon.

[Chuck Nice]

It was Mark Watley. Oh, is it Watney?

[Andy Weir]

It is Watney.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. Says the guy who wrote it.

[Andy Weir]

Whatever. At the time, I lived in Boston when I first started writing it. And I lived alone because I was a loser. And I was like. At the time, I was really into Red Sox games. And they had a sideline reporter named Heidi Watney.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Oh, really?

[Andy Weir]

And so that. I'm like, I like that name. I like the name. I'm taking it.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, cool.

[Andy Weir]

Heidi Watney. If you're out there, Mark's named after you.

[Chuck Nice]

Actually, Heidi. No, no, no, no, he's not. Because we don't want to owe you any money. Okay. Andy doesn't know what he's saying. He's been drinking since noon. Okay.

[Andy Weir]

StarTalk personally takes responsibility for any monetary compensation.

[Chuck Nice]

There you go.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So what year did the.

[Andy Weir]

Well, it took me years to write the book. I started writing it in 2009. Finished around 2012. The book came out, I think, 2013 or something.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's early teens.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And so the movie comes out in 20.

[Andy Weir]

2015.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

2015, the movie.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So that's a quick turnaround between.

[Andy Weir]

Yes, it was very fast. It was.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Congratulations.

[Chuck Nice]

Was the book that popular that it was like a meteoric rise through the rankings? Let's make a movie.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I see what you did in Meteoric. I see what you did.

[Andy Weir]

Meteors usually go down, not up.

[Chuck Nice]

That's not tr. They also just go around.

[Andy Weir]

No, that's Asteroids.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right?

[Chuck Nice]

Correct. A meteor the moment they break the atmosphere. Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

A meteor is doomed,

[Andy Weir]

see, because inaccurate fun is not fun. You understand?

[Chuck Nice]

So anyway, you have been hanging out

[Andy Weir]

with the wrong people.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so the Martian, you also bagged a marquee director for that in Ridley Scott. Yeah, Ridley Scott.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah, yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And he did Blade Runner and he's the guy.

[Andy Weir]

Alien.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No. Yes, Alien.

[Andy Weir]

Alien.

[Chuck Nice]

That's the one.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Alien one, not Alien two. Because that was.

[Andy Weir]

That was James Cameron.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

James Cameron. Congratulations on that.

[Andy Weir]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, yeah. And so then that was followed by Artemis.

[Andy Weir]

Artemis, which is the only one of my books not to be made into a movie.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes, but it will be, mark my words. I will make it is now a space program though.

[Andy Weir]

Yes, that's true. That's true.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

What more do you want? Geez.

[Andy Weir]

I want a movie.

[Chuck Nice]

Good answer.

[Andy Weir]

Thank you.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Wait, wait. So how many total books do you have?

[Andy Weir]

Just three.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. So that sentence. It's the only one of my books not to be made into a movie. You only wrote three damn books, dude.

[Andy Weir]

Plural is. The plural is correct. In this case. I have had books made into movies.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

True. So we brought you here because you have your latest project.

[Andy Weir]

I see what you did there.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

See what I did there? Project Hail Mary. Another best selling book. It's still on the shelves. I see it wherever I go. And that's now a film starring Ken.

[Andy Weir]

That's right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

I didn't realize that. Yes.

[Andy Weir]

Also known as Ryan Gosling.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Oh, that is name. He was such a good Ken. I can't.

[Andy Weir]

He was a great Ken.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Hard for me to shake that. We're not worried about spoilers in this. Cause the book predates the movie. So the storyline is out there. It's not some secret. But spare the viewer. Listener. The ending.

[Andy Weir]

The finale.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, the finale. But catch us up on just the. The most important plot development of that story.

[Chuck Nice]

You know, for the people who don't read.

[Andy Weir]

Well, the idea is that an alien microbe that they later named Astrophage.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Astro is star.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Phage is eat. Eat.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So it eats stars.

[Andy Weir]

Well, that's what they named it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's what named it.

[Andy Weir]

It's more like they.

[Chuck Nice]

They.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Not like he had anything to do with it. The captors just went on their own and named it.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah. And they. They called it Astrophase. What it does is it lives on the surface of the sun and it absorbs energy and turns it into mass. It uses that mass to create light as propulsion so that it can migrate to a nearby planet with carbon dioxide so that it can get the heavier elements it needs to reproduce. And then that and its sister cell, or sorry, the two daughter cells, return back to the star and the cycle continues. And so. And it spores out away from stars to go infect other stars. It's just basically like mold or algae.

[Chuck Nice]

Mold.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Y.

[Andy Weir]

The problem is that it grows exponentially. And there's now so much astrophage on our sun that it's gonna dim it. And it is dimming it already. And it'll dim it to the point where Earth is no longer viable, no longer habitable by anything. But they notice all of the stars in our local cluster have the same problem. They've all Dimmed, except Tau Ceti. So they're like, why didn't Tau Ceti have any dimming? So they're like, we're gonna make an interstellar spacecraft to find out how. And you know, it's like, how do we make an interstellar spacecraft with modern day technology? You use astrophage as the fuel because it does mass conversion propulsion.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Andy Weir]

And that is the, the principal conflict of the story. Now, do you want me to talk more about.

[Chuck Nice]

Let me just say, were you high when you thought of this? No, no, like, because Pearl just rolled off his tongue. I mean, yeah, you see how I mean. And by the way, it's actually, it's completely feasible. It's circular and feasible all at once. Like, I mean, that's pretty wild.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Like. Yeah, of course this is how that would have gone down. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Weir]

Very cool.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. So, Andy, what we love and deeply respect about you is how much attention you give to the scientific detail infused within your storytelling. Because most stories don't get that level of attention.

[Andy Weir]

I always imagine you're looking over my shoulder, Neil.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No, I have that quote. Yeah, I have the exact quote. I would quote it now. Here it is. Go ahead. Okay.

[Andy Weir]

10 years ago or so.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

10 years ago, here it was.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And this is my second highest compliment I've ever gotten. All right. Okay. Whenever I was tempted to use hand wavy physics or take a shortcut and not be accurate, I honestly thought to myself, what if Neil Degrasse Tyson reads this? Wow, that's true, man. Cause he know I'd be tweeting about it later.

[Andy Weir]

Looking over. I imagine you looking over my shoulder while I'm typing.

[Chuck Nice]

That's. Yeah, that would creep me out.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's not what he means by that. Oh, oh, okay.

[Andy Weir]

Don't worry, man. He doesn't have to be like, be over your shoulder. He's got cameras in your house.

[Chuck Nice]

True that.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So the astrophase, we spent a little bit of time on your last visit talking about that fascinating organism. And in this one, it's one of the few sci fi films where there's more than one kind of alien in it. And so let's spend some time on the other alien who the lead character befriends. And this other alien, it kind of looks like a pile of rocks, but it moves like a crab a little bit. Yes. So what's your thinking behind that life form?

[Andy Weir]

Well, I started off with the exoplanet that he's from, which was at the time believed to be a real exoplanet and has since been proven to be nothing more than like solar flare activity from 40 eridani, which is a bummer. But within the context of when I wrote it, I started with what was known about that exoplanet for those who

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

were never amateur astronomers.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Because they're the ones who know the stars.

[Chuck Nice]

They know everything.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

They know everything about the night sky. Okay. The way we label stars and constellations that are sort of visible, easily we sequence them by Greek letter and it's followed by the genitive form of the constellation name. So the brightest star in the constellation

[Andy Weir]

Cetus, which means the whale.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Cetus is the whale.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The brightest will be Alpha Ceti.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The second brightest would be Beta Seti. Beta Seti third.

[Chuck Nice]

Whatever comes after that.

[Andy Weir]

Gamma Ceti.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, Gamma Ceti. Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. So you move on your way down. So Tau Ceti is not one of the brighter stars in the constellation Cetus. Okay. Okay. And the genitive name for Cetus would be Seti. Then there are certain people who catalog stars going much deeper than naked eye and binoculars. And then they just number the stars. And it's not as romantic, but it's very precise in cataloging. Okay. Yeah. So what star system is this?

[Andy Weir]

Well, this would be in 40 eridani.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Eridani. So that would be Eridanis Eridanus, which is the river.

[Andy Weir]

The river.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So there's a non living thing in the sky. Yes, there's several actually, but this is a river. And I've always disappointed with the river. Cause I think it's just leftover stars that didn't fit into other constellations. Oh, wow.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, wow.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Cause it's just kind of there, you know. Let me grab a couple of these stars, a couple of those, and now call me something. Eridanus. So this other life form which is rock, rocky. Rocky life.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah. Well, eridion is what they. Is what he would be known as getting Iridian species. Yeah, yeah. So fortier Donnie had, it was believed at the time an exoplanet around 40 Eridani A. If you'd like to describe the details of the trinary star system, you can now. Or we can just skip over it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Skip over it.

[Andy Weir]

Skip over it. Okay, so 40 Eridani A is the primary star. And 40 Eridani AB is the planet closest to that star. And that was an exoplanet that was eight Earth masses. Took about 46 Earth days to orbit the star. Very, very close to the star, turns out doesn't exist at all. It was a mistake made and our more accurately, our more accurate methods of exoplanet detection have disproven it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But so he's not describing the plot of the film.

[Chuck Nice]

He's the actual science behind.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Which misled him initially to.

[Andy Weir]

To believing that it was there. Anyway, so starting from that planet, I said, well, it's going to be really hot because it's very close to its star. It's closer to its star than Mercury is.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Wow.

[Andy Weir]

And then I said, but because all life in the story was caused by a panspermia event that radiated out from Tau Ceti, including all life on Earth, including all life on Arid, which is the nickname of the planet, everything has to be water based. So how do we have liquid water on a planet that's really, really hot? And the answer is have a really, really high atmospheric pressure because water won't boil. And, you know, so like, their Oceans are over 200 degrees Celsius.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius at atmospheric pressure.

[Andy Weir]

At our atmospheric pressure. Yeah. Increase. So they have 29 atmospheres at their surface. And so water, even 200 degrees Celsius, water won't allow.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Wait a minute. So you backed into these alien properties from what would have to be the properties of a planet that we would later show doesn't exist.

[Andy Weir]

Yes, that's right. Unfortunate. Anyway, I mean, if I was gonna make up a fake planet, if it was gonna be an imaginary planet in the first place, I didn't have to constrain myself.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Exactly. Anyway, well, constraints is the. Is the soul of creativity to all engineers.

[Andy Weir]

Yes. So anyway, I decided it would have to have a thick atmosphere. How do you have a thick atmosphere when you're that close to the sun? A star is like sandblasting your atmosphere off. So you got two things you can do. You can do what Venus does or you can do what Earth does. You can do what Venus does, which is have really heavy molecules that are hard to knock out of the planet's gravity. Well, Venus has carbon dioxide. I decided 40 aridani has ammonia. There's ammonia everywhere in our system, so why not? And then the other thing you can do is have a really powerful magnetic field like Earth does. So I decided for the Eridani, I've decided arid rather has a tremendous magnetic field. The way you get a magnetic field is. Neil, spin, baby, spin. It's a mambo king.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No, you need a conducting core.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah, you need like a molten iron core with convection, but then also spin to make a dynamo. So their magnetic field is about 25 times as powerful as ours. And they rotate once every six hours.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Wow.

[Andy Weir]

So that planet spins like crazy. But with those two things coming, Robbie's dizzy. Maybe with those two things combined, I figured that's enough to protect the atmosphere. So now, finally, I have liquid water on this exoplanet.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That was a long way to go.

[Andy Weir]

To go. And then with those constraints, I'm like, well, I'm not sure light would make it to the surface through that thickened atmosphere. Ammonia has a color at large scales. So I decided that no light gets to the surface. And so the biosphere works kind of like an ocean. There's photophilic life up top that absorbs the sunlight and reproduces that. And then beneath that there's life that eats it. Beneath that there's life that eats it. Just like our ocean.

[Chuck Nice]

Like our ocean, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Weir]

And then so the apex predators or things that are the iridians, which are the intelligent species, they live on the surface. There's no light down there. There's no reason for them to evolve eyes, of course, and they do everything through echolocation, et cetera, et cetera. So bit by bit, I put it together. There's also no free oxygen in the air. So they have to have an enclosed body that deals with the carbon dioxide, oxygen, back and forth reactions. So they have different kinds of cells within their body. Everything's fine as long as they keep adding energy to the system. So they need to eat food that's found on the ground. That's why they're obligate predators. So all this, it's kind of like

[Chuck Nice]

some of the animals that live near volcanic vents here on Earth.

[Andy Weir]

Well, for their biosphere, they're not really extremophiles. This is the normal thing for them, but they are obligate carnivores. And so if you imagine things that live on the seafloor, like crabs or things like that, so far down that the light isn't even reaching them. But there's still plenty to eat, right?

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[Ken the Nerdneck Zabera]

This is Ken the nerdneck Zabera from

[Andy Weir]

Michigan and I support StarTalk on Patreon. This is StarTalk Radio with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It looks like a pile of rocks, an animated pile of rocks. But the appendages move in a crab like way.

[Andy Weir]

Well, he has five legs or arms, they can use them interchangeably, that each end in three claws and so it's pentagonally symmetrical, you might say. And he doesn't actually move specifically like a crab. He walks on those legs. But he can walk on three of them while holding stuff with two of them. Or he can walk on two of them even if he needs to.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I learned in the wiki fan page of your book.

[Andy Weir]

Oh, excellent. An undeniable source of absolute truth.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yes, yes. And I hadn't thought about it and I read this before I, I saw a preview of your film. The creature does not have a front or a back, right?

[Andy Weir]

Because it has. So the way it does a technolocation is it has, I call them oracles, but they're basically like all over his body. Just like we have nerve endings for touch, he has nerve endings for sound. And so his body shape, his brain untangles all that information. He knows his body shape and yeah, he knows his body shape and his position. Like an Iridian might reach out his arm to get a better view of. He's like, wait, let me hear this a little better.

[Chuck Nice]

It's like this. That's his way of doing that.

[Andy Weir]

And also, wouldn't it be neat if you could just go like this and the room gets brighter for a second. You could be like, you know, because that's how that works. Because of that they have a constant input of their 3D environment constantly going on in all directions.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

There has to be some sound somewhere for that to be the case.

[Andy Weir]

That's true, but there's always ambient sound. There's wind or whatever, and if they don't have any, they can make some. Right, but so they have this constant input of their 3D environment. So they don't have the part of their brain that we have that maintains cognition of what's around them spatially. So you're looking at me, but you know what's behind you and your brain. You don't have to think about it. Your brain's just keeping track of that. You know, there's a bookshelf there. In a way, you can see it in your mind, you know where it is.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And if I turn around, it's not there. I'll notice it's not there.

[Andy Weir]

You'll notice it's not there. They don't have that part of a brain. They don't have to track that because they constantly have 360 degree input.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Andy Weir]

It's like if you had eyes all the way around your head.

[Chuck Nice]

That's pretty brilliant.

[Andy Weir]

Now, if they suddenly can't hear anything, they will lose all of that information.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Andy Weir]

If you close your eyes, you still know pretty much everything that's going on. Well, no, but in addition to that, just close your eyes. You know where everything is in the room? I mean, not precisely, and you probably bump into stuff. But, you know, there's a table there, a microphone here, a chair here, bookshelves, meals.

[Chuck Nice]

Why wouldn't they be able to do the same thing we do? Because when we close our eyes, we have lost the input, but what we're doing is recreating it in our mind.

[Andy Weir]

Your mind has a whole system of maintaining a 3D model of your environment because you can't look at it a lot more.

[Chuck Nice]

I understand what you're saying. Because our minds are acclimated to always tracking what's around us and. And persistent.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

If we, if we didn't have that, when that would be taken away, we'd be lost immediately. Because they don't need to do.

[Andy Weir]

Basically, they don't have object permanence.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. This is that famous test with infants.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yes, it's a famous test that. Yeah, that's still there when it goes behind the wall.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And until a certain age it goes behind the wall and then they just look somewhere else. It's gone. And then after a certain age, they'll look and they'll anticipate it coming out the other side.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah, that's why peekaboo is so effective with infants. You vanish.

[Chuck Nice]

I still like it.

[Andy Weir]

Chuck's still working on object permanence. Well, they do have object permanence. Iridians. If something leaves their sensory input, they do, but they don't have that spatial map in their head.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Richard Dawkins thinks that bats that use echolocation, being mammals, that means they're structurally similar to us in important ways. He thinks they might use echolocation and map colors onto it.

[Andy Weir]

Interesting.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

She thinks they might be able to because they have the capacity to think of color. Why not add color to echolocated objects? I mean, why not?

[Chuck Nice]

Why not? Yeah, I mean, you know, the only way we'll know is to ask a bat.

[Andy Weir]

Ask a bat.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Andy Weir]

What color is this wood? Well, one thing I saw interesting lately is they took a thing. You know how the cones in your eye react to different wavelengths? So there's red, green, and blue cones, and there's overlap and stuff like that. Well, there are some. There. There. There are some activations that never happen because, like, any wavelength that's this, you know, any wavelength in this range will activate your greens a little bit and your blues a little bit. Any stuff like that. And so what they did for the hell of it, I think, was they took somebody. They took tests, human test subjects, and shined lasers into their eyes to just activate the blue cones. And so now their brain is getting a signal that has just blue cone activation and no green cone activation, and that makes a new color, because they have never experienced that in their life. And they kind of. They have a hard time describing it. They say it's like this really, really brilliant bright blue, which should surprise no one. But it's interesting. Imagine being able to go in and have somebody shoot a laser in your eye and see a color you have never seen, nor will you ever see again, because it can only be done by specifically activating those. We are way off top.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I love me some color.

[Andy Weir]

Color is good.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No, I love me some color. So through your pen, through your mind, the main character names this life form Rocky.

[Andy Weir]

Rocky. Because he looks like a rock.

[Chuck Nice]

He looks like a bunch of rocks.

[Andy Weir]

Very imaginative.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, then. It took me a half second. I want to alert people of this so that they don't lose this half second. Everyone on Rocky's planet is facing the same fate as people from Earth.

[Andy Weir]

Ah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And they both notice this one star that is not dimming.

[Chuck Nice]

Aha.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And they gotta find out what's going on there and not over here. Gotcha so they both arrive at the same star for the same purpose, with the same mission.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, my God.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And what an alignment that is. It is, yeah. Very cool.

[Chuck Nice]

It's like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks at the Empire State Building.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

He asks Rocky, is there someone back at home?

[Andy Weir]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

And Rocky goes, adrian.

[Andy Weir]

Well.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And you can't understand. So. Okay, I'll call you Rocky and I'll call your mate. Adrian. Adrian. Adrian.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But you got.

[Chuck Nice]

That's.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's very. That's. That's very pop culture.

[Andy Weir]

Very pop culture retro decade.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Decades.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm from Philly. It's totally fine. We love it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

50 years ago.

[Andy Weir]

Decades right now. Yes. Yeah. So am I. I am also from 30 years ago. So as for Philly, here's the thing. I wanted to do this as part of the publicity, but I came up with the idea too late. Everyone agrees it would have been a great idea.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We didn't say what's going on. In case you don't know. Rocky the movie with Sylvester Stallone.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And he's from Philadelphia.

[Andy Weir]

Correct. And his wife's name is Adrian.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

His wife's name is Adrian. We all know that. Cause there's a big scene.

[Andy Weir]

Adrian.

[Chuck Nice]

Adrian.

[Andy Weir]

But I wanted. From the marketing, I wanted them to either CG render or have the puppeteers do it to show Rocky from Project Hail Mary running up the steps of

[Chuck Nice]

the art museum in Philadelphia.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah, the art museum in Philadelphia. He put his little thing like that.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Why not?

[Andy Weir]

Because I came up with it. It would have been. It would have taken too long and cost too much at the point that I came up with it, and it

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

would have been stupid. Okay,

[Andy Weir]

what are you talking about?

[Chuck Nice]

That's the first thing people do when they go to Philly, is run up those damn stairs.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

How are you getting Rocky to Philly?

[Andy Weir]

How? You get what?

[Chuck Nice]

Through astrophase? Propulsion.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Stupid.

[Chuck Nice]

Come on, man.

[Andy Weir]

They did little things where they, you know, CGI put, like, Rocky on the red carpet for the London premiere, and he's, like, signing autographs and photos.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, that's cool.

[Andy Weir]

That's cool.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Chuck Nice]

That's cool.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You got it. So one thing that I didn't quite follow precisely how, by what means and mechanism was the lead character, of course, played by Ken. Ken.

[Chuck Nice]

You know what? I can't think of his name now.

[Andy Weir]

Ryan Gosling.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, no.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Ken by Ryan Gosling. Thank you. So he sets up his computer to. There's initially a shared vocabulary. They start with science and symbols and things, and then that rapidly becomes full on exchange of translated knowledge. So I didn't quite follow how that got so effective so quickly.

[Andy Weir]

Well, it's just he had his computer, like, be able to analyze the waveforms, and so Rocky would say a word.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The acoustic waveforms?

[Andy Weir]

Yeah, the acoustic waveforms that Rocky's making. And it would say a word, and then he'd put that in his program and say this. And this is the word. Like hello. And then when the computer heard something close enough to that, it would then have a synthesizer voice. Say hello to be Rocky's voice. So. And Rocky is not speaking, you know, poetic, very high end. He's talking, like real simple words for dumb human, you know, he's speaking sort of a pidgin, you know, Iridian English hybrid thing to try to keep the words simple and keep the sentence structure simple so that they can each talk to each other.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, cool.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But there had to be some starter

[Andy Weir]

exchange of vocabulary, and they started with, I think the number one. Yeah, this is my number one.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

One.

[Andy Weir]

One. So what do you say? For one. Okay, cool. Two. You know.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, that's cool.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That works. So I. Oh, and by the way,

[Andy Weir]

since you're talking about Rocky and Adrian, I'm surprised. Did you notice that the name of the ship is the Hail Mary and it's full of.

[Chuck Nice]

It better be Grace.

[Andy Weir]

But Grace. Yeah, main Character's name is Dr. Ryland. Grace. The Hail Mary is full of grace. I could not resist it. I am weak. I'm weak. Neil.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But is the Lord with thee?

[Andy Weir]

Well, the writer would be the Lord, right? In this case.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, I guess so. I guess so. But are you blessed? Art thou?

[Chuck Nice]

I don't want to know anything about the fruit of your womb. That's all I'm saying.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

He blushes out among women.

[Chuck Nice]

Let me ask you this, though, because you seem to have this theme of alone in space. What is it that fascinates you about alone in the cosmos?

[Andy Weir]

Well, to be fair, Ryland is not alone. Right. He's got his brother from a Rocky mother with him. Right. Okay. But failing that. But it's just a very convenient method of storytelling you have. Your hero is completely isolated when they're out in space. It's like even if all of humanity wanted to help him, which was the case in the Martians, very little they can do.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So the lead character in this story is. He's kind of a reluctant hero, to say the least. He's kind of a selfish, cowardly, selfish. He doesn't want to save the world. He doesn't want. And yet. But he's cast into this spot, kind of against his will. Reminding me of the great Shakespearean line. Yes, some people are born great, some people achieve greatness, other people have greatness thrust upon them.

[Andy Weir]

He had it thrust into him. It was not a good theory. He had greatness just absolutely injected into him.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Injected into. He was a reluctant participant in this mission, but everyone knew they needed him, so they just drugged him and put him on.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah, that's a pretty big spoiler, by the way, for the movie. So you might want to make an extra warning.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Andy Weir]

And the book also. But yes, he was there against his will and I wanted to make a likable protagonist. And I think we can all feel like. We've all felt at times that we are like unqualified, unwilling and scared. I don't know, maybe not you. He just radiate confidence to the rest of us more.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But that's not interesting to a viewer. You want the person to overcome his

[Andy Weir]

weaknesses, which he does.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And then triumph.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Weir]

Which he does.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Chuck Nice]

I mean, that always redeems a character too. He could start off scared, cowardly, but then overcomes that to do heroic feats, you know, especially if they're selfless heroic feats.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Andy Weir]

I mean, the first time he was willing to really risk his. Really risk his neck was because of the friendship he had made with Rocky.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, so that's cool, man. That's cool. So he didn't want to save humanity, but he put his ass on the line for some rocket ass aliens. Now I'm angry.

[Andy Weir]

Within the context, saving humanity was a guaranteed death sentence. It was a suicide mission.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Andy Weir]

Saving Rocky was high risk of death. It was a little different.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's an interesting distinction.

[Chuck Nice]

I like the distinction. Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

High risk of death or certain death? Certain death. Yeah. I'm taking the high risk. Yeah,

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[Andy Weir]

Another pina colada.

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[Andy Weir]

Fantastic.

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[Andy Weir]

And you're hired.

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[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So I want to just compliment you on conceiving of aliens that are not just actors in a suit.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So therefore you have the freedom for them to not be humanoid, which is one of the weakest points of all Hollywood aliens.

[Andy Weir]

Well, to be fair, Hollywood aliens are usually not in $200 million movies. Right. And so you've got to. You've got to be a movie cost.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, $200 million.

[Andy Weir]

Actually, closer to 250. But we got tax rebates from the UK for shooting there. Yeah, yeah, we better make a lot of money on this.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's why he's got an expensive panama hat.

[Andy Weir]

That's why I've got this expensive Panama hat. So half of that budget went to this hat. But yeah, most of the time, you know, if you're going to write a science fiction story and you want to tell it in a reasonable budget, like an episode of Star Trek or something

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

like that, you get the rubber costume when you play.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah. You get the forehead prosthetics, you have the alien be in the same environment. You're good. But yeah, with the luxury of being able to do whatever you want, we can have our alien require xenonite barriers and stuff like that and be completely non humanoid.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Tell me about the barriers. Because your alien Requires a different environment.

[Andy Weir]

29 atmospheres of ammonia.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

29 atmospheres.

[Chuck Nice]

A lot of pressure and ammonia.

[Andy Weir]

And a lot of heat.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Hot. High pressure and poisonous gases.

[Chuck Nice]

Sounds a lot like me and Melania.

[Andy Weir]

Anyone?

[Chuck Nice]

Sorry, go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So how do you.

[Andy Weir]

After a lot of tacos, how.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The boundary between the regular spaceship and the alien in the spaceship. What was that boundary? It was transparent.

[Andy Weir]

It was made of xenonite, which is a material that is somehow. One of the main components of it is xenon, a noble gas that doesn't normally react with things.

[Chuck Nice]

What I Wanted super bright headlights because.

[Andy Weir]

Yes. So Rheiland has no idea how that stuff works or how it's made.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Oh, so it's a rocky. It's a rocky.

[Andy Weir]

It's Iridian technology.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Andy Weir]

And so what I wanted was. I didn't want either species to be like completely scientifically more advanced than the other. From the Iridian's point of view, we're kind of the advanced aliens because we have computers, we have better technology across the board, but Iridians have much better materials technology.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So they're material scientists, Basically, yeah.

[Andy Weir]

Their materials science is far better than ours. But our. Like. Like, they didn't understand relativity. The Iridians didn't. Or they.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Idiots.

[Andy Weir]

They didn't understand. We've only known it for about 120 years, so don't get so high. It might be.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So why was it important that they didn't know relativity?

[Andy Weir]

We figured out flight before we figured out relativity.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so why was it important that they did not know relativity?

[Andy Weir]

As a storyteller, because it gave me an excuse to. If you calculate. If you assume Newtonian physics, which they did, they calculated how much fuel they would need to get from their home, Star 48er Donnie, to Tao Ceti, and for a trip back. It was supposed to be a round trip thing. And you calculate that fuel, you get a certain number. The real amount of fuel you need to use is considerably less due to the time dilation and the relativistic effects you have when you're going there. So he ended up with a whole bunch of excess fuel, which enables him there.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I didn't catch that. There it is. So that's the evidence. They didn't know relativity, otherwise they would have done the proper calculation. Right, Right.

[Andy Weir]

And Rocky. It's in the book, but not in the movie. Rocky says they were very confused. It's like, okay, the planet was, you know, the other star was closer than it should be, so we slowed down, but then it got further away.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So they were experiencing relativity not knowing what the hell's going on.

[Andy Weir]

What. What is going on?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So do you regret that that wasn't in the movie?

[Andy Weir]

No. You had to cut things out.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. So what's. What. Okay, what. Cause you don't have final edit control, I presume. Cause you're just the author.

[Andy Weir]

Well, I'm also a producer, so I had to say.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

What were you executive producer?

[Andy Weir]

No, I was a real producer.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Oh, damn.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, wow.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So is there a scene you felt should have been in the movie?

[Andy Weir]

Yeah. My only regret. And Drew and I both fought for this. Drew wrote the adaptation for it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

He credited him for that. Drew the fourth.

[Andy Weir]

Drew Goddard.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Drew Goddard.

[Andy Weir]

Drew Goddard wrote the adaptation, did a fantastic job, and he and I both wanted this one scene, and we just didn't have time for it because the runtime was going so long. But there's a scene in the book where they nuke Antarctica. They basically put back on Earth.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Andy Weir]

They set off a bunch of nuclear explosions in Antarctica to make an entire ice shell fall into the ocean so that it will melt and release all the methane, which is greenhouse gases, so that Earth will retain more of the heat that it is getting from the

[Chuck Nice]

sun because they are.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Because astrophase is eating.

[Andy Weir]

Dimming the sun. Dimming the sun.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So, wow.

[Andy Weir]

So they're like, we need some global warming.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Wow.

[Chuck Nice]

And that's why

[Andy Weir]

are you doing Trump?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Is that it?

[Chuck Nice]

And that's why.

[Andy Weir]

This is the thing between Trump and Fat Albert.

[Chuck Nice]

I think there's something wrong with your ears.

[Andy Weir]

That's a pretty gravelly Trump, my friend.

[Chuck Nice]

No, if you've listened to him now, that's how he talks. Okay, so I'm not doing Rally Trump. I'm doing the Trump that talks in front of the cameras. And want you to know. Want you to know that.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So that's something that was not in the film, where we don't see Earth descending into.

[Andy Weir]

Right. And that's also not in the book. We see in the beginnings of it. In the book, there's issues. They're starting to have problems, and a lot of their problems are caused by the amelioration techniques they're proactively doing. So they nuke in our things are going to get worse, but then we're going to need that heat.

[Chuck Nice]

So we have a mouse problem. Well, let's get a bunch of hawks. And now we have a hawk problem.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Exactly.

[Chuck Nice]

That's the deal.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right. And it was a stretch for me, if I may.

[Andy Weir]

You and I are enemies now.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No, go ahead. It was a stretch for me as an academic to completely embrace the idea that the entire world of biochemists is insufficient to handle this mission. And they need the one guy who has the expertise that no one else has. And he's a middle school chemistry teacher.

[Andy Weir]

Right. So to be fair, he was a speculative xenobiologist, ESPN PhD astrobiologist. So he had done that, and then he'd left that field.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

He'd written papers, but he wrote papers. So the papers are out there, and other people are still active, and he's no longer active. So why does he still become the

[Andy Weir]

guy because he's been part of the mission and the mission planning the whole time. So he understands all the other aspects of the mission as well. He knows all about the Hail Mary itself, and they don't have time to train someone else up on all the other stuff. And he's as. As well trained as any of the other biologists in the way they needed to be in the field that they need him to be.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, all right. He got out of that.

[Chuck Nice]

Does that work for you?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

He got out of that one.

[Andy Weir]

I got wriggled out of that one.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So, again, congratulations.

[Andy Weir]

Thanks so much.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Some of your books getting turned into movies.

[Andy Weir]

Done on two out of three. Two out of three.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Some of your books getting turned into movies. And it's a delight anytime you come visit us here. And for whatever might be your next book. Still, we want to stay on your tour.

[Andy Weir]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Your tour list, always. All right, cool. Excellent.

[Andy Weir]

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And any last. Just bits of wisdom or advice for us all. How about aspiring writers? What might you say?

[Andy Weir]

Aspiring writers. I've got three bits of advice for aspiring writers. One, you have to actually write. Ideating and imagining and world building is not writing. You need to type. Number two is resist the urge to execute the idea. Yeah. Number two is resist the urge to tell your friends and family your stories. It satisfies your need for an audience and saps your will to write.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Oh, very nice.

[Andy Weir]

So you can give them a chapter at a time as you write it to satisfy that need.

[Chuck Nice]

Don't tell them.

[Andy Weir]

Don't tell them. And then the third one is, there's never been a better time in human history to self publish. There's no old boy network between you and the readers anymore. You can, for absolutely zero financial risk, you can put your book out there. And millions of people have access to

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

the man who's published with Penguin Random House. Okay.

[Andy Weir]

I was going to say initially published on Kindle Direct Publishing.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

O.

[Chuck Nice]

But for all of you who aren't this talented, don't quit your job.

[Andy Weir]

I didn't quit my job until I had a traditional publishing deal anyway, so.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right, all right, we're done here. That was Project Hail Mary.

[Chuck Nice]

Nice.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Full of grace.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The Lord was with thee.

[Andy Weir]

Well, feel Lord

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Chuck, always good to have you, man.

[Chuck Nice]

Always.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And Andy, thanks for being high up on my compliment list.

[Andy Weir]

Oh, thank you.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Thank you. And let me give you the highest compliment I could ever give. Don't stop moving the needle in your storytelling for Hollywood because it was looking like same Shit. Different day for so many years. And with your stories out there, it gives us something fresh to embrace and imbibe.

[Andy Weir]

Thanks so much. That means a lot to you in the genre.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist. Do keep looking up. So.

[Andy Weir]

They say in that song they're going to Venus. And then they also say they have so many light years to go.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, God, yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Don't get me started.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah. God damn it.

[Chuck Nice]

That's awesome.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No, but you know what was the. I did the Kessel run in 12 parsecs. That's the one.

[Andy Weir]

No, no, the Kessel.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Hey, hey, no, no, that's. Don't. Don't come after the fact and explain that.

[Andy Weir]

No, no, no.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

At the time, they didn't. What the.

[Andy Weir]

There are two black holes orbiting each other.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Don't make me slap you.

[Andy Weir]

And so if you go between the black.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Don't make me slap you.

[Andy Weir]

Then you manage to do it in under 12 parsecs. Everyone else goes around the black holes.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, so I've heard that. I've heard that. That explanation before.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

They're just bailing out there.

[Andy Weir]

Yeah, that's what we're doing.

[Chuck Nice]

No, but nobody has given me a compliment at all. I don't know what.

[Andy Weir]

I don't know, man.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You know.

[Andy Weir]

Wait. A way to escape Philly.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, that was. Man, that hurt.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That one. Hur.

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[Ken the Nerdneck Zabera]

Why have I asked my electrician I found on Angie.com to bury my pet hamster? I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires. I knew I could trust him to bury my sweet nibbles after his untimely end.

[Andy Weir]

This is very strange, Angie.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home [e-mail].