Question: When Roy travels across the Martian landscape, he is in an enclosed buggy. Why aren't these used on the Moon, where they would offer greater protection?
Ad Astra (2019)
1 commented-on entry since 21 Nov '25, 07:39
Directed by: James Gray
Starring: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Liv Tyler, Ruth Negga
Factual error: It is not possible that Pitt could have gone up to the ship when it was already blasting off. There was literally fire in the tunnel.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: It was a bit confusing, but what I saw was a shower of sparks or hot particles and some fumes, and no actual fire in the tunnel until he was through the hatch.
Roy McBride: Can I have a blanket and pillow?
Flight Attendant: Certainly, that will be $125.
More trivia for Ad Astra
Question: How did the monkeys get onto the space ship and why were they so aggressive?
Answer: On the way from the Moon to Mars, the Cepheus interplanetary vessel receives an automated distress signal from a Norwegian bio-medical space station (that studies and conducts experiments on Earth animals in the deep-space environment). Apparently, a couple of very powerful and temperamental adult baboons escaped from their cages and killed everyone aboard the space station, feeding on their bodies. When the Cepheus answers the distress signal and arrives at the space station, the baboons attack and try to eat Captain Tanner and Roy McBride, also.
Answer: Unlike the moon, Mars has an atmosphere, weather, and winds that can reach up to about 60 mph. Mars also has severe dust storms that quickly cover objects in a thick, gritty layer of toxic Martian soil. An enclosed rover protects the driver, equipment, and other sensitive instruments from the elements. This is actually a concern for when humans eventually colonize Mars.
raywest ★
But if there is hostile activity on the Moon, why isn't there more protection?
There are plenty of examples on earth of soldiers and similar being sent into situations with unsuitable or minimal equipment. Most likely hostile activity isn't significant enough to warrant a buggy redesign, and/or given the weapons involved, the only protection that would make any actual difference would be too heavy to be worth transporting to the moon, or impossible to make on-site. As such people take their chances.