In the book, Project Hail Mary, a brilliant engineer Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He soon realizes that he is the sole survivor of a mission to the Tau Ceti solar system, 12 light-years from Earth. His mission is to find a way to stop an alien organism called Astrophage from feeding on stars, which is causing the sun to dim and threatening the extinction of humanity.
Grace must piece together his memories and learn how to operate the spaceship. He also discovers that he is not alone on the ship. There is an alien creature, nicknamed Rocky, who is also on a mission to save his planet from Astrophage. Grace and Rocky work together to find a solution to the Astrophage problem. They eventually discover that Astrophage has a natural predator, which they name Taumoeba. Taumoeba can be used to control the Astrophage population, mitigating its effect on stars. Grace and Rocky send data back to Earth on how to use Taumoeba to save the sun. The data arrives too late to save Grace, but it gives humanity the hope they need to survive.
About the Author of Project Hail Mary
ANDY WEIR built a career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, THE MARTIAN, allowed him to live out his dream of writing fulltime. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects such as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He also mixes a mean cocktail. He lives in California. Andy’s next book, ARTEMIS, is available now.
