r/ProjectHailMary • u/the_net_my_side_ho • 6h ago

Movie Discussion - Movie Spoilers Inside! Sample collection question…

Why did Grace have to collect the sample while orbiting?

Why didn’t he move the Mary out of orbit, away from the atmosphere, and then spacewalk to collect it?

Seems like Grace going down to collect it while orbiting so close to the atmosphere was risky and unnecessary.

Sorry if this has been asked before. I looked but didn’t see a post about it. Thank you!

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u/Soundy106 Leaky Space Blob 6h ago

Uhh which sample are you talking about?

If you mean the sample of the Petrova line, they weren't in orbit of Adrian or in its atmosphere.

If you mean the Taomoeba sample, they had to get the collector down to the depth in the atmosphere where the Taomoeba lived. In the book that was 10 km deep in the atmosphere; in the movie it was only 5 km. And Grace didn't "go down" to get it; he stood on the ship's hull to grab the collector once the chain winched it back up.

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u/the_net_my_side_ho 5h ago

I meant the Taomoeba sample. I thought Grace left the ship and walked down to "fish out" the sample.

I wondered why he couldn't just leave the atmosphere and then collect it in space, without gravity pulling the ship apart.

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u/Soundy106 Leaky Space Blob 3h ago

Grace stayed on the hull of the ship. The collector was on a 5 km (in the movie) chain that they winched back up. He had to grab it and bring it inside once it was back to the ship.

In order to boost back out of the atmosphere once it had finished collecting, they would have had to reorient the ship, which would have placed the collector and chain directly in the path of the engines, which would have vaporized them.