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Andrés Ospina asked this question about Project Hail Mary:
When Rocky gives Grace the little ships models, it says that the atmosphere in Rocky's ship is 29 times the atmosphere in the Hail Mary. But later when Grace is explaining radiation to Rocky he is comparing Erid to Earth and says that the atmosphere of Erid is 29 times as thick. But the atmosphere on the Hail Mary it's 40% of Earth's. Shouldn't be that the atmosphere of Erid is 11 times thick as Earth?
Bandar Julkiram I have thought of that too. But I realized that Blip-A's internal pressure relative to Erid's sea level pressure was not mentioned in the book.* Andy …moreI have thought of that too. But I realized that Blip-A's internal pressure relative to Erid's sea level pressure was not mentioned in the book.* Andy Weir may have missed this or perhaps he only intended for Grace to make a point that Erid's atmosphere is thicker than Earth's to avoid the complication of details.

So Grace generalized the details to make a point either:

1. By implying that Erid's sea level pressure is 29 times that of Earth's mountain peak level pressure (which is also 40% of sea level pressure)

2. Or by assuming that Blip-A's internal pressure is also 40% of Erid's sea level pressure, making Erid's sea level pressure 29 times that of Earth's sea level pressure.


For the threaded beads or "necklace," Hail Mary only has one oxygen necklace. One may ask, where's the nitrogen necklace, given that Earth's air is 78% nitrogen? Since Hail Mary's atmospheric composition was not mentioned in the book, we can only guess by observation.* If the we assume Hail Mary's atmospheric composition is same as Earth, those Taumoebas that escaped the xenonite breeding tanks would not survive 78% nitrogen, given that the most resistant can only survive 8.25% nitrogen. Also, when Grace sterilized Hail Mary, he used Dubois's euthanasic nitrogen instead of tinkering the life support system to fill it with nitrogen. I think it is best to assume that:

1. Hail Mary's life support system was not designed to function with nitrogen.

2. Aside from carbon dioxide, Hail Mary's atmospheric composition is mostly or 100% oxygen with robust safetys in the electronics to avoid fires.

*Not mentioned? Or maybe I just missed it?(less)
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Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir (Goodreads Author)
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