WARNING!

This website contains spoilers for Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary.
It is recommended you read the book before exploring this site.

“Get comfortable. I have a lot of science to explain.”
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Project Amaze!

Textual and scientific analysis of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary

text-facts 44 word-study 39 science 32 chapter-facts 29 character-facts 28 word-usage 20 astronomy 14 physics 11 chemistry 10 verbs 9 astrobiology 7 feature-launch 6 astrophage 6 pop-culture 5 show more... particles 5 speech 5 rocky 5 contractions 5 ryland-grace 4 trailer 4 biology 4 spectroscopy 3 sections 3 eva-stratt 3 exoplanets 3 atmosphere 3 nouns 3 dr-lokken 3 astronauts 3 petrova-line 2 eridian-numbers 2 star-trek 2 40-eridani 2 venus 2 determiners 2 punctuation 2 adjectives 2 prepositions 2 dimitri-komorov 2 tau-ceti 2 beatles 2 quotes 2 martin-dubois 2 climate 2 conjunctions 2 jwst 1 gravity 1 marissa 1 unicode 1 grace-kids 1 sandra-elias 1 dr-browne 1 minister-voigt 1 ms-xi 1 justice-spencer 1 ursula-k-le-guin 1 music 1 bob-redell 1 chinese 1 russian 1 ryan-gosling 1 similes 1 easton 1 francois-leclerc 1 invented-words 1 dr-lamai 1 psychology 1 annie-shapiro 1 possessives 1 olesya-ilyukhina 1 yao-li-jie 1 antarctica 1 geography 1 steve-hatch 1 pronouns 1 genetics 1

#179 +V̶V̶

When introducing Ryland to the Beetles, Steve Hatch explains (after suggesting that interstellar navigation is “easy-peasy” 18.177) that each tiny spacecraft is equipped with a receiver that constantly awaits a signal from Earth.

“Once it hears that signal, it’ll broadcast its location and await instructions from the Deep Space Network.” 18.178

The Deep Space Network (DSN) consists of ground-based radio antennas located in California (Goldstone), Spain (Madrid), and Australia (Canberra). Operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this network of facilities allows teams on earth to track and communicate with missions ranging from Earth-orbiting satellites to spacecraft that have left our solar system, like Voyager.

The DSN’s three international facilities are strategically placed approximately 120 degrees apart in longitude to allow for continuous communication with spacecraft as our own planet relentlessly rotates.

In September 2025, when one-half of the Project Amaze team had the opportunity to visit the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and step into the Mission Control Center, she snapped the below picture in which the status of DSN communications can be seen on the large screens.

Nearest to the observer is an elongated, curving desk containing computer monitors and one keyboard+mouse setup. The sign above the workstation reads 'VOYAGER ACE'. The entire room is coloured a cool shade of blue. On large curving screens above head-level against the far wall are displays related to the Deep Space Network. The leftmost screen shows the status of all antennas in Madrid, Goldstone, and Canberra. Each dish is coloured grey or white, though DSN 65 in Madrid appears in bright green. The middle screen displays an evening photograph of a large radio dish pointing up and to the right, with the red text '70-meter Antenna' just above it. Finally, the rightmost screen shows a visual of MADRID 65, the dish in dark grey shades and the text in bright green. Below the middle screen is a sign that reads 'CHARLES ELACHI MISSION CONTROL CENTER'.

Our next beanbag will contain a live snapshot of the DSN’s spacecraft communications.

fly off into deep space

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