Project Hail Mary

A 2021 science-fiction novel by Andy Weir about an astronaut who awakens alone aboard a spacecraft and must investigate a stellar threat to save Earth.

Astrophage: A fictional microorganism-like organism that consumes stellar energy and drives the crisis in Project Hail Mary. Its behavior causes the Sun's dimming and gives the mission its central scientific puzzle.
Stellar evolution: The changes in a star's structure and output over its life cycle. Understanding stellar behavior gives context to the novel's threat to the Sun.
Andy Weir: An American novelist known for science-driven survival stories, including The Martian and Project Hail Mary. He wrote the novel and shaped its blend of technical problem-solving and humor.
Hard science fiction: Science fiction that emphasizes scientific and technical plausibility in its imagined settings and events. The novel foregrounds scientific reasoning and engineering as tools for solving its crisis.
Tau Ceti: A nearby Sun-like star in the constellation Cetus, known to host multiple exoplanets. The spacecraft travels there because its star appears unaffected by astrophage.
Exoplanet: A planet orbiting a star beyond the Solar System. The search for a habitable destination beyond Earth shapes the mission's astronomical setting.
The Martian: A 2011 science-fiction novel by Andy Weir about an astronaut stranded on Mars. It is Weir's earlier survival novel and a close comparison for this book's problem-solving structure.
The Three-Body Problem: A 2006 science-fiction novel by Liu Cixin that begins with humanity's discovery of an alien civilization. Both novels center on contact and existential danger, but take sharply different narrative approaches.
Hail Mary pass: A desperate, low-probability attempt made when conventional options have failed. The mission's name captures its last-chance strategy for averting catastrophe.
Astrobiology: The study of life's origin, evolution, distribution, and potential beyond Earth. The novel's alien organism and life forms draw on questions central to astrobiology.

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Project Hail MaryNarrower topic: The film adapts this novel, carrying its story from page to screen.