Gravity - the new sci-fi space disaster/survival thriller by Alfonso Cuaron, featuring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney is arguably one of the best movies this year. Without going too much into details and spoilers (although there may be some unavoidable spoilers: you have been warned), the premise of the movie is about things going wrong on a routine space mission and the quest for survival in the seemingly hopeless void of space. Sandra Bullock plays bio-medical engineer Dr Ryan Stone, who is on her maiden space shuttle mission as a Mission Specialist, while George Clooney plays veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski, in final mission of his career. While everything seems to be going just fine during an EVA (extra vehicular activity), space debris from a Russian missile strike aimed to destroy its defunct satellite, results in a chain reaction that destroys the space shuttle with several other astronauts, leaving our two protagonist astronauts stranded in space, only tethered to each other, being only be able to communicate with each other as the contact with Mission Control is lost.
Talking about the scientific accuracy of Gravity, this is fairly accurate in some aspects, but has glaring blunders in many others. Here are a few of the scientific inaccuracies:
Altitude Mismatch Of Space Shuttle, ISS, HST
The space shuttle, International Space Station, and Hubble Space Telescope, are all situated at different altitudes. However, Gravity shows astronauts zipping between these space outposts with relative ease, relying on just the jetpacks. The distances between the altitudes of a space shuttle, the ISS, and the HST are simply too far to travel using personal jetpacks. Moreover, the distances between these is so much that it is simply not possible to view one from another as has been shown in the movie.
Astronauts Are Not Completely Helpless Even Untethered
All possible care is taken to make sure that an astronaut remains tethered to the spacecraft during a spacewalk or EVA. Astronauts may be wearing a Manned Manuevering Unit (MMU), which is more like a chair seating the astronaut and equipped with jetpacks to move around. Even without the MMU, an astronaut's spacesuit is still equipped with a SAFER (Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue), which is a smaller backpack with jetpacks that can be used as an emergency measure by stranded astronauts to get back to the safety of the spacecraft. Of course, while Kowalski has an MMU, which runs out of fuel, Stone doesn't seem to have a SAFER in the movie, which is odd. Instead, she improvises using a space station fire extinguisher as a handheld jetpack, which is a crude and almost impossible to control way of moving around in space in reality.
Difficult Dexterity Of Spacesuit Gloves
A pressurised spacesuit in space is like a balloon with the astronaut inside. There are huge forces working outwards, making it extremely difficult to manipulate gloves. The movie depicts the astronaut trying to catch the tether, but that is something impossible to achieve quickly in real life.
Astronauts Are Not Universal Pilots
Astronaut Stone is shown to be able to pilot spacecrafts of two countries in addition to her own, namely the Russian Soyuz and the Chinese Shenzhou. In reality, astronauts of a particular country will only be trained to be able to pilot their own spacecraft. The controls in a spacecraft of another country are remarkably different and an astronaut who may attempt to still pilot the unfamiliar controls will definitely be in a fix.
Astronauts' Faces Are Visible Through Space Helmets
This is a standard issue associated with any space movie. I do get it, since there are actors portraying astronauts, it is necessary that their faces must be visible. In real life, though, space helmet visors have reflective metallic coatings meant to keep out harmful radiations in space, primarily coming from our own Sun. While it is true that the reflective part of the visors may be retracted when not directly looking at the Sun, the view of the astronauts face from outside still remains obscured because of the difference in refractive indices of air on one side of the visor and the zero refractive index of vacuum on the other side.
Well, I can give credit to the movie makers for having the sense to at least not install a face illuminating light source of seemingly no real use inside the helmet unlike some of the other movies like Star Trek Into Darkness.
"The movie gave great clarity to looking down (on Earth from space)" - Buzz Aldrin
Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon and one of the first to actually float in space for an EVA, mentioned in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter that the Earth appeared too clear from space in the movie. In reality, you would be looking through a hazy layer of atmosphere with clouds, but that didn't seem to be the case with the movie. A slight visual glitch at the most, in my opinion and Aldrin has only good things to say about everything else regarding Gravity.
In addition to the above, Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History had a few interesting and intriguing tweets about Gravity. Tyson mentioned via Twitter that it is highly implausible that a medical doctor will be sent to service the HST. He also pointed out to some errors in the zero gravity situation as to why Sandra Bullock's hair do not float freely on her head. In one funny tweet, he also mentions for laughs that Clooney informs Bullock, a medical doctor, about the effects of oxygen deprivation.
So Is Gravity Not Worth It?
Some of the above scientific accuracies are required to make sense in a space-based movie. Not everything can be depicted in the exact same way as it actually is. Case in point: if you have watched the Gravity trailer, you would have noticed that the explosions are audible. However, they are silent, as they should be, in the movie itself, adding to realism. Audio has been handled realistically as you can actually hear sound being transmitted via the astronaut's spacesuit. Also, the zero gravity simulation is handled remarkably well with even Buzz Aldrin lauding the depiction.
The stars against the jet black sky appear just like shown and the re-entry trails of the disintegrated satellites have been realistically shown. The Earth's atmosphere appearing as thin as it is shown and the Aurorae visible near the polar region are as they really are visible from space. George Clooney's calm-under-stress demeanour is actually what is expected of an astronaut and is generally known to be true for those who qualify for space programs.
While I am aware that many of you may not be fans of 3D, this is one of the very few movies that certainly makes use of 3D stereography to its advantage. With the realistic visuals and immersive sound, the movie is able to recreate as close an engrossing experience of a real astronaut as it would have been possible. If you are one of those who have dreamt of becoming an astronaut as a child, this is your chance to experience it in a realistic way by just paying for the price of the ticket (and refreshments, if any).
Talking about the scientific accuracy of Gravity, this is fairly accurate in some aspects, but has glaring blunders in many others. Here are a few of the scientific inaccuracies:
Altitude Mismatch Of Space Shuttle, ISS, HST
The space shuttle, International Space Station, and Hubble Space Telescope, are all situated at different altitudes. However, Gravity shows astronauts zipping between these space outposts with relative ease, relying on just the jetpacks. The distances between the altitudes of a space shuttle, the ISS, and the HST are simply too far to travel using personal jetpacks. Moreover, the distances between these is so much that it is simply not possible to view one from another as has been shown in the movie.
Astronauts Are Not Completely Helpless Even Untethered
All possible care is taken to make sure that an astronaut remains tethered to the spacecraft during a spacewalk or EVA. Astronauts may be wearing a Manned Manuevering Unit (MMU), which is more like a chair seating the astronaut and equipped with jetpacks to move around. Even without the MMU, an astronaut's spacesuit is still equipped with a SAFER (Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue), which is a smaller backpack with jetpacks that can be used as an emergency measure by stranded astronauts to get back to the safety of the spacecraft. Of course, while Kowalski has an MMU, which runs out of fuel, Stone doesn't seem to have a SAFER in the movie, which is odd. Instead, she improvises using a space station fire extinguisher as a handheld jetpack, which is a crude and almost impossible to control way of moving around in space in reality.
A pressurised spacesuit in space is like a balloon with the astronaut inside. There are huge forces working outwards, making it extremely difficult to manipulate gloves. The movie depicts the astronaut trying to catch the tether, but that is something impossible to achieve quickly in real life.
Astronauts Are Not Universal Pilots
Astronaut Stone is shown to be able to pilot spacecrafts of two countries in addition to her own, namely the Russian Soyuz and the Chinese Shenzhou. In reality, astronauts of a particular country will only be trained to be able to pilot their own spacecraft. The controls in a spacecraft of another country are remarkably different and an astronaut who may attempt to still pilot the unfamiliar controls will definitely be in a fix.
Astronauts' Faces Are Visible Through Space Helmets
This is a standard issue associated with any space movie. I do get it, since there are actors portraying astronauts, it is necessary that their faces must be visible. In real life, though, space helmet visors have reflective metallic coatings meant to keep out harmful radiations in space, primarily coming from our own Sun. While it is true that the reflective part of the visors may be retracted when not directly looking at the Sun, the view of the astronauts face from outside still remains obscured because of the difference in refractive indices of air on one side of the visor and the zero refractive index of vacuum on the other side.
Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon and one of the first to actually float in space for an EVA, mentioned in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter that the Earth appeared too clear from space in the movie. In reality, you would be looking through a hazy layer of atmosphere with clouds, but that didn't seem to be the case with the movie. A slight visual glitch at the most, in my opinion and Aldrin has only good things to say about everything else regarding Gravity.
So Is Gravity Not Worth It?
Some of the above scientific accuracies are required to make sense in a space-based movie. Not everything can be depicted in the exact same way as it actually is. Case in point: if you have watched the Gravity trailer, you would have noticed that the explosions are audible. However, they are silent, as they should be, in the movie itself, adding to realism. Audio has been handled realistically as you can actually hear sound being transmitted via the astronaut's spacesuit. Also, the zero gravity simulation is handled remarkably well with even Buzz Aldrin lauding the depiction.
The stars against the jet black sky appear just like shown and the re-entry trails of the disintegrated satellites have been realistically shown. The Earth's atmosphere appearing as thin as it is shown and the Aurorae visible near the polar region are as they really are visible from space. George Clooney's calm-under-stress demeanour is actually what is expected of an astronaut and is generally known to be true for those who qualify for space programs.
While I am aware that many of you may not be fans of 3D, this is one of the very few movies that certainly makes use of 3D stereography to its advantage. With the realistic visuals and immersive sound, the movie is able to recreate as close an engrossing experience of a real astronaut as it would have been possible. If you are one of those who have dreamt of becoming an astronaut as a child, this is your chance to experience it in a realistic way by just paying for the price of the ticket (and refreshments, if any).
My final word: don't miss this one!
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