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Part of the story-line for the Martian involves Watney salvaging parts from "Rover 1":
But the movie doesn't really touch on what happened to Rover 1, perhaps the book goes into more detail about this, but it seems like something else took down Rover 1 other than the storm that caused the crew to abort the mission.
Admittedly I haven't read the book, but does anybody know what happened to Rover 1?
The movie and your picture make it clear. Rover 1 was made inoperable by the same sand storm that almost killed and stranded Mark.
In the book, both Rovers are fine. The official screenplay also implies it. The movie straight out changes it. For background in the book, screenplay & movie, during the storm, Watney is suggesting to anchor the MAV with the guy-lines of the Solar Farm/Comm Mast tied to the Rovers. In mid sentence, he gets smashed by flying debris.
Later, in his science the shit out of this speech, the screenplay and movie differ:
But here’s the rub. I’ve got two rovers designed to go a max distance of 35 kilometers before they need to be recharged at the Hab. That’s problem A.
vs
Okay, so here's the rub. I've got one working Rover designed to go a max distance of 35 kilometers before the battery has to be recharged at the Hab. That's Problem A.
Both feature the same scavenging of Rover 1, as does the book.
Rover 1, which is identical to Rover 2, is clearly smashed in, half buried and sticking up in the air. At Least one of it's 6 wheels have fallen off!
Triple A doesn't provide service on Mars yet.
For reference, Book, Chapter 2:
Both rovers are half-buried in sand, but they’re in good shape otherwise. Their pressure seals are intact. Makes sense. Operating procedure when a storm hits is to stop motion and wait for the storm to pass. They’re made to stand up to punishment. I’ll be able to dig them out with a day or so of work.
In the books, both Rovers are operable until Mark Watney makes the arbitrary decision to loot one of the Rovers for parts.
From The Martian, Chapter 7:
I'll need to trick out a rover. Basically it'll have to be a mobile Hab. I'll pick Rover 2 as my target. We have a certain bond, after I spent two days in it during the Great Hydrogen Scare of Sol 37.
...
Having rendered Rover 1 unusable, I'll have to use my mutant rover for the trip.
Rover 1 was damaged by the MAV takeoff. Remember, Martinez drive it over to do his checks while everyone else was doing their work near the HAB. When they evacuated, they left Rover 2 and walked to the MAV.
