How It All Goes Down
- Well thank your lucky stars, because it's not "as bad as it looks" (24.10). Mark is unharmed (albeit shaken up) and the rover's atmospheric barriers are still intact.
- First things first: Mark needs to perform a closer inspection on his ride. Luckily, the only damage is the loss of a few solar cells—and he even brought along a spare. The harder part will be flipping the rover back over.
- Thankfully, Mark brought along a lot of tools "for the MAV modifications" (24.55). He uses the rock drill to attach a cable from the rover to the surface, using the extra tension to flip the thing right over. Success. After righting his little trailer, he gets on his merry way.
- After two more days of driving, Mark gets a blip on his radar from the Ares 4 Hab, a.k.a. the Promised Land. If there's ever been a time to blare "Eye of the Tiger" at full volume, this is it.
- When Mark finally does reach the MAV, he "knelt on one knee and fist-pumped repeatedly" (24.146). At this point, friend-o, we wouldn't expect anything less.