The vehicle in the opening scene switches from right hand drive to left hand drive.
Bug and Theo are usually seen clean-shaved, with an occasional scene of them with a slight growth of beard. Dvorak is never seen clean shaven, but after well over 1 year, he just has a couple days growth.
When the crew walks into the diner, the clock reads 10:18. Their conversation lasts 7 minutes of screen time, yet the clock never moves.
The U.S. flag patch on the uniform is wrong. When on a sleeve it should be with the star field towards the front, as if you were facing into the wind.
When Dvorak removes his helmet, he twists it to unlatch it, then pulls it up. When he signals to the others that it is safe, they just pull their helmets up without twisting them.
When the four astronauts are on their way to the town of Tranquility and have only just spotted its street lights in the far distance, the reflection on the glass of their helmets shows a horizon - the kind that you would see in the early beginning stages of dawn. There is even an outline of trees and shrubs visible in this horizon. And this while the astronauts are all immersed in the pitch black darkness, with the only source of (nearby) light being their flashlights, meaning that it would be impossible for even the faintest reflection of a horizon to show on their helmets. In addition to this, in this scene they are located in a desert-like area that is devoid of any plant life whatsoever, so the reflection on their helmets is incorrect either way.
It appears that the reflection on the helmets shows the area in which the scene was originally filmed, and thus that during post-production, the crew missed editing out the reflection for that scene, because the reflection of the horizon is missing in other scenes that take place in the pitch black darkness.
It appears that the reflection on the helmets shows the area in which the scene was originally filmed, and thus that during post-production, the crew missed editing out the reflection for that scene, because the reflection of the horizon is missing in other scenes that take place in the pitch black darkness.
The launch is a bit of an eye-roller. Mission control is a single person with a black background, not a room filled with controllers monitoring the ship, the crew, the flight, or anything else. And before the simulate launch, the guy asks if everyone is "accounted for". One would assume that no one was playing hooky.
The location of the underground simulated ship is totally unbelievable. Clearly there have been no excavations, tire ruts show it to be nothing but a field, a car is parked within twenty feet of the entrance, there are no security fences or any sign of a presence, there are no signs of power sources (simulating power from solar cells, etc.) and there are no monitoring facilities. This is clearly just a six foot deep hole in the ground with a fancy lid.
Each of the astronauts finds a goody bag in their quarters. These are supposed to be professionals, not debutants. This would not happen with any mission, simulated or otherwise.
One of the astronauts is given a stack of dirty magazines for the flight. This is not only inappropriate, but unprofessional. The private exploration of sexual fantasies while on a 400 day mission is not psychologically sound.
The space suits are a joke. There is no mechanism connecting the helmets to the suits.
Just after Bug faints the Doctor takes a few tablets in her office/lab. As the camera operator moves the camera in front of her he becomes visible in the reflection of the computer screen just over her left shoulder.
Theo goes on a bender after breaking up with his girlfriend. This is beyond absurd. Astronaut selection is based on a wide range of factors, psychological fitness being one of them. If someone has been selected for anything as extensive and long-running as a Mars mission simulation, they will have been vetted to an extremely high standard. Theo wouldn't have come anywhere close to having a shot at it. Besides, making such a confession at the press event would have resulted in him being immediately pulled and his backup would have taken his place.
Divorak's salute was anything but military. Not only was he not wearing a hat or cap, but cupping his hand over his forehead is not a salute. Clearly he had never seen a proper salute in his life.