Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary

Author	Andy Weir
Audio read by	Ray Porter
Cover artist	Will Staehle
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	Ballantine Books
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print, ebook, audiobook
Pages	496
ISBN	978-0-593-39556-1
Website	PenguinRandomHouse.com

Project Hail Mary is a 2021 science-fiction novel by Andy Weir. It is his third novel, after 2011's The Martian, and 2017's Artemis. Set in the near future, it is about the astronaut Ryland Grace, who wakes up from a coma, afflicted with amnesia. He gradually remembers that he was sent to the Tau Ceti solar system, 12 light-years from Earth, to find the cause of a solar dimming event that could cause the extinction of humanity.

The unabridged audiobook is read by Ray Porter.

Plot

The plot is delivered both through Grace Ryland's flashbacks to the events leading up to the launch of the Hail Mary spacecraft, and the present events onboard the Hail Mary.

Before Launch

Ryland Grace is a junior-high school science teacher in the United States, having left his former career as a molecular biologist. He is recruited by Eva Stratt, head of a UN task force, to find the cause of a solar dimming event that could end humanity.

A probe sent to Venus discovers an alien single-celled organism reproducing uncontrollably around the Sun. Grace names the microbe "Astrophage," Latin for "star eater." Grace soon discovers it uses CO₂ to reproduce, and emits extraordinary light energy. Other scientists quickly conceive of using it as a fuel source.

Eva Stratt is given absolute authority to procure materials for a project to bring the Astrophage under control. Astrologists discover a nearby star, Tau Ceti, has resisted Astrophage infection, while the surrounding stars have not. Stratt spearheads the development of a starship, the Hail Mary, to study Tau Ceti. If a solution is found, four probes called "Beetles" will be sent back to Earth, but Hail Mary cannot return, making it a suicide mission.

A crew of three is chosen for the Hail Mary mission. However, nine days before launch, an explosion at the Baikonur Cosmodrome kills both the primary and backup science advisor on the crew. A replacement can't be found and trained on time, so Ryland Grace is forced aboard the Hail Mary.

Aboard Hail Mary

Ryland Grace wakes up with no memory of his name or where he is. He finds himself in a starship, and finds two other crew members, long dead. His cognition slowly returns after a few days. After gaining access to the ship's control room and airlock, he gives the other crew members a space burial, and tries to remember where he is, and why he's here.

He finds out his ship, the Hail Mary, is in a stable orbit around Tau Ceti. Soon after this, the ship detects another starship close by. The other ship, which Grace calls Blip-A, tells Grace that it comes from 40 Eridani for the same reason as the Hail Mary; its star is infected by Astrophage. Blip-A connects to Hail Mary, and the single crew member aboard Blip-A comes to meet Grace.

The alien resembles a five-legged spider with a stone-like carapace. It lives in an atmosphere 29 times denser than Earth's, comprised mostly of superheated ammonia. Grace names the alien "Rocky." The alien communicates in tones, and Grace sets up a computer program to translate Rocky's speech to English. Soon, Rocky constructs enclosures aboard the Hail Mary so they can work together to solve the Astrophage problem. Rocky also assures Grace, that since he has excess fuel, he will give it to Grace, so he can return to Earth after the mission.

They find out Tau Ceti's third planet contains Astrophage, but the population is controlled by a natural predator, a microbe which Grace names "Taumoeba." After a dangerous low orbit maneouvre, they recover a sample of Taumoeba, but find out it cannot survive any exposure to nitrogen. As both Venus and the planet in Rocky's system have nitrogen-rich atmospheres, they have to breed a nitrogen-resistant strain of Taumoeba. They succeed, but the initial Taumoeba sample escapes and infects the Hail Mary, consuming its Astrophage fuel.

After disinfecting and refuelling the Hail Mary, the two part ways. However, Grace finds out that the nitrogen-resistant Taumoeba can pass through the material Rocky's ship is made from. It will get into the fuel tanks, consume the Astrophage, and cripple the Blip-A. Abandoning his return to Earth, he sends out the Beetle probes, and catches up to rescue Rocky, and take him back to his planet.

Grace is resigned to starving to death, until Rocky points out that Grace can eat Taumoeba. The book ends with Grace on Rocky's planet, in an Earth-like enclosure, older and weakened by the planet's higher gravity, but happy. He receives news from Rocky that the Sun is no longer infected with Astrophage.

Characters

• Ryland Grace - The protagonist. A former molecular biologist, he teaches science in junior high, before being recruited to study Astrophage.
• Eva Stratt - A woman who works for the UN. She is given absolute authority to stop the Astrophage, eventually leading to the Hail Mary mission.
• Rocky - An alien from the 40 Eridani system, whose planet is also threatened by Astrophage. He encounters the Hail Mary and works together with Grace.
• Yáo Li-Jie - The commander of Hail Mary’s crew, stern and courageous. He dies en route to Tau Ceti.
• Olesya Ilyukhina - The engineer of Hail Mary’s crew, ribald yet cheerful. She dies en route to Tau Ceti.
• Dr. Lokken - A climatologist from Norway. He assists in the design of the Hail Mary, and has a short rivalry with Grace.
• Dimitri Komorov - A Russian scientist who develops the Astrophage-based propulsion system for the Hail Mary.
• Steve Hatch - A researcher from the University of British Columbia. He develops the "Beetle" probes. Very talkative and optimistic.
• Martin DuBois - An American man, and the original science advisor on the Hail Mary mission. Honest and gregarious.
• Annie Shapiro - The original backup science advisor on the Hail Mary mission.
• Robert Redell - A solar energy expert from New Zealand. Arrested for embezzlement and the death of seven technicians in a testing accident, he develops a method to rapidly breed Astrophage.

Production

In an profile in the New York Times, Weir says that after completing The Martian, he begain a multi-volume space opera called "Zhek," which was about a substance that could absorb electromagnetic radiation and use it as a fuel for interstellar travel. He wrote 75,000 words before abandoning the project and beginning on Artemis. Several elements from "Zhek" were brought over to Project Hail Mary, including a ruthless bureaucrat character, and an energy-absorbing substance used as starship fuel.

Publication

Project Hail Mary was released on May 4, 2021, by Ballantine Books. It is available in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook formats.

Reception

Project Hail Mary has received generally positive reviews. The New York Times says "For readers who can forgive its shortcomings, the result is an engaging space odyssey." Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review, describing it as "An unforgettable story of survival and the power of friendship—nothing short of a science-fiction masterwork."

Film adaptation

Ryan Gosling announced in March 2020 that he plans to produce and star in a film adaptation of Project Hail Mary with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ken Kao is also attached to produce the film.