Isso é abordado no romance de fontes . Apesar de inicialmente ter sido impedido de tirar qualquer foto do site Ares 3, Venkat Kapoor (renomeado como Vincent Kapoor para o filme) encomendou algumas imagens de telemetria. Ele esperava avaliar quais ativos estariam disponíveis para futuras missões.
A flicker on her screen announced another set of images were ready for dispatch. She checked the name on the work order. Venkat Kapoor.
Posting the data directly to internal servers, she composed an email to Dr. Kapoor. As she entered the latitude and longitude of the image, she recognized the numbers.
“31.2°N, 28.5°W… Acidalia Planitia… Ares 3?”
- The Martian: Andy Weir - Chapter 6
A implicação é que ele conseguiu persuadir seu superior a autorizar as imagens com a força de usar a simpatia pela morte de Watney para alavancar um orçamento melhor para uma futura missão em Marte.
“Ok, consider this,” he said. “Sympathy for Watney’s family is really
high. Ares 6 could bring the body back. We don’t say that’s the
purpose of the mission, but we make it clear that would be part of it.
If we framed it that way, we’d get more support in Congress. But not
if we wait a year. In a year, people won’t care any more.”
Teddy
rubbed his chin. “Hmm…”.
A mesma cena aparece no roteiro do filme , mas 'Vincent' é um pouco mais strong agora:
VINCENT: Right now, the world is on our side. Sympathy for the Watney family.
ARES 6 can bring his body home. Now, we don't say that's the purpose
of the mission, but we make it clear that would be a part of it. If we
frame it that way, more support from congress, but not if we wait a
year. We wait a year, nobody gives a shit.