Originally Answered: Is the science in The Martian reasonably accurate?
But the hurricane winds that open the story are not realistic. Though Mars has winds as fast as hurricanes on the Earth, it's atmosphere has a hundredth of the density of Earth atmosphere, and the winds are equivalent in strength to winds of a tenth of the speed (in kinetic energy).
So the very fastest winds on Mars recorded, 162 km / hour in a dust devil - correspond in strength to a 16.2 km / hour wind on Earth which is classified as f0rce 3, "gentle breeze".
It's not quite strong enough to move an autumn leaf. Perhaps on Mars it would be able to move an autumn leaf as the lower gravity would make it only 40% of its weight on Earth. But if so that's about the limit.
No way would it either blow a human over or blow away any part of a spacecraft. The large dunes on Mars form as a result of the much lower gravity allowing individual dust grains to travel further than they can on Earth with extremely light winds. The dust in Mars dust storms is micron scale, about same diameter as individual particles of cigarette smoke.
More about this here: Robert Walker's answer to How realistic is the book "The Martian"?
It's easy to suspend disbelief though and enjoy the story, and it's a very understandable mistake to make.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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