Ryland Grace may have been alone, at least initially, when he woke on the Hail Mary, but Dragon Con attendees had an assist. To a packed room at the panel “Amaze Amaze Amaze: The Science of Project Hail Mary” in Hilton 209-211 on Saturday at 2:30PM, scientists, teachers, and communicators broke down complex science.
Dr. Steffi Diem, a plasma physicist, brought a tight list of questions to Lali DeRosier, Erin Macdonald, Dr. Seven Rasmussen, and Charles E. Blue. Panelists did a fabulous job making complex scientific concepts easy(ier) to understand.
Diem opened with the fundamental question: how quickly would scientists notice if the sun was dying.
In a word: quickly. Macdonald and Blue debated how quickly but scientists are always measuring the sun’s energy output and, while that output fluctuates over the course of a year, we would notice pretty quickly.
To the question of our survival pending a disruption to the amount of sunlight available to the Earth, Rasmussen assured us we know what happens. It wasn’t much of a comfort. “We’ve observed the effects of volcanic eruptions.” We would undoubtedly experience crop failures. Even a 10% disruption in agriculture would have a tremendous global impact.
Scientists are already watching the light emitted from stars like Tau Ceti, but getting to one is a different story.
When she was reading the book, Macdonald got out her pencil and figured out that Grace was traveling at 95.4% the speed of light. She explained in simple terms how space and time shrink around an object traveling close to the speed of light which means time passes differently on Earth than for the traveler.
Grace figures he’s been traveling for four years while back on Earth, 13 years have passed. While she agreed that Weir’s math got close, it wasn’t quite on the nose.
As to the state of Grace’s mind and body when he wakes, DeRosier commented that the Hail Mary’s robotic machines perform a similar function to technology currently used for coma patients. Bones and muscles are actually strengthened by microtears and abrasions from regular movement, she explained, and exercise and the machines simulated that action.
Astrophage drew the greatest groans from the panelists and the conversation quickly turned technical. Was it believable? In a word, no.
There was general consensus in the believability of intelligent life away from Earth which prompted a debate between the Drake Equation (life is statistically probable) and the Fermi Paradox (so why don’t we see it), but panelists also suggested that humanity was just as likely to go extinct before ever being discovered.
There was a wonderful conversation around Rocky’s anatomy where Rasmussen reminded the audience that Trilobites have crystalline eye structures and DeRosier suggested that those eyes could have evolved into neurological structures had trilobites not gone extinct.
The idea that mathematics is the universal language was quickly shot down by MacDonald. After all, she asked, what is a “one” or a plus sign or an equal sign. DeRosier reminded us that humans struggle to speak to each other, especially when you introduce intonation, emphasis, and cultural differences. What was believable? Grace and Rocky’s collaboration and patient resilience in the face of learning.
Where they all agreed? While the reality of Project Hail Mary veers toward the ruthless and grim, overall, Weir leans toward optimism and the idea that all humans are inherently scientists.
