I'm sure we are all familiar with Mark Whatney, the botanist who was left behind on Mars and had to survive multiple struggles before he was rescued.
The Martian was set in 2035, so not that far into our future (the medium future) but could this type of space travel and exploration be possible by our 2035?
Lets break down the specific aspects of the movie and explore the potential of this being a reality and if you haven't seen the movie, SPOILERS ALERT!
Just a heads up that I am going to be ignoring all the set backs that Mark had and look at the overall picture of what living on Mars would be like.
Lets start with The Hab and living on Mars. If you've seen the movie then you'll know what I am talking about. The Hab is an inflatable place where the team lived whilst on Mars and where Mark Whatney spends his days before he is rescued. Looks wise, it doesn't seem that futuristic but more of a modern look so this Hab is definitely possible to construct to look the same. Its got all the necessary aspects that are needed to survive in space such as the oxygen stabiliser and airlock systems which I'm sure could be replicated considering that space shuttles have this technology currently. However, if you do some research you can find that being in Space for long periods of time can expose you to radiation that can cause cancer so if this were to be real in the future then there would need to be some kind of technology that could fix this. In terms of growing your own vegetables using Mars soil, this is proven possible so as long as a storm doesn't ruin the crops then food will not be a problem.
Moving onto the actual Space Travel aspect. Their mode of travel is called The Hermes and once again it doesn't look futuristic in terms of what is in there but looks modern and sophisticated. I'm no expert on space travel but I have read that it does take 8 months to travel to Mars from Earth on current technology, so that part of the movie is accurate and if travel to Mars were to happen in 2035 then it would probably take that long. For the astronauts in the movie, taking of from Mars and reconnecting with The Hermes requires the use of the MAV, which at the moment is not a possible way to take off from Mars
And finally, the communication systems. We have FaceTime, and Skype and all these other modern ways of video chatting and communicating which seem to be the form of communication between Earth and the Hermes so all that is really needed on Mars is working WiFi. I have no idea if this is possible but if it was then we would be set for communicating and we are talking about the future here so there is always the possibility. The other form of communication is the pathfinder which Mark has to dig up when other communications stop working. The pathfinder has been proven to be possible by scientists who say that all you would need is a working battery in order to start it up again.
Based on this breakdown, The Martian seems like it could be a reality in the future... provided that there is a fix for being exposed to cancerous radiation and lifting off from Mars. I deem this movie a possible theory for space travel and exploration in the future and maybe even by 2035 with the current pace on technology adaptation, but as for the present day there are too many things that could go wrong so, No.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!