• The map above shows the land Watney covers in this chapter. Again, navigation is critical. After all, it's not like he has GPS at his disposal. So, what object does he depend on to get LATITUDE and what tools does he use to obtain LONGITUDE?
Speak of altitude, Mark made a sextantand use it to observe Deneb every night. For longitude, he only need the exact time and compare it to the Probos' position, then put the numbers into a formula to work out.
• The dust storm seems to be the last hurdle Watney must overcome before he reaches the Crater in which MAV is lying. How does he determine the direction of the storm so that he can move past it?
He leaves a solar cell, drives back to collect the cells and read the data of time of the day and wattage on them.
• Well, so much for the "last hurdle" in Ch.23, but by this time I bet we're pretty much used to Mars sparing no effort trying to kill him. So, what accident occurs in this chapter? And how does it happen?
The rover rolls. The trailer is connected to the rover, so it follows suit.
• Everyone is trying to help Watney in the ways they can, from the nerds at NASA, to the crew on Hermes, and to Watney himself. Briefly summarize what Watney and the Hermes crew have been doing to make sure this mission has a successful outcome.
Watery flows NASA’s suggestion. He remove everything unnecessary in the MAV to make it light enough for the intercept velocity, and sacrifice the water and urine to fuel the MAV. Crew members on Hermes are trying best to figure out how to save Watney, and doing all sorts of preparation of the intercept.
• Even though we knew right from the start that Watney would be saved, we definitely didn't anticipate that it would be such a heart-stopping journey.
• At the beginning at Ch.26, why is there a single paragraph, para.4 to be exact, dedicated to depicting one couple?
Because they are Watney's parents.
• Commander Lewis decides to blow up the VAL to create thrust. How does she come up with this extremely dangerous idea? And what is the purpose of it?
It is Mark who proposed this idea. And the propose is to gain thrust since Hermès is traveling too fast from the intercept.