Movies - TV
How Scientifically Accurate Is Netflix’s 3 Body Problem?
By JEREMY MATHAI
Spoiler Warning!
This story contains spoilers for This article contains spoilers for the entire first season of "3 Body Problem."
From aliens to artificial intelligence, viewers may be surprised to learn just how realistically accurate and possible many of the "3 Body Problem" concepts are.
Movies do a good job of revealing just how difficult and dangerous space travel is to fragile human bodies and rockets, but they don't even scratch the surface of space's complexity.
The fundamental puzzle in astrophysics and the central idea behind the Netflix series is what astronomers refer to as the three-body problem.
In simple terms, think of two cosmic entities (like Earth and our sun) rotating around each other. Add a third, and now there's a problem for anyone trying to map out their orbits.
In "3 Body Problem," this theory takes on galactic stakes with the extraterrestrials known as the San Ti, whose planet is caught in a gravitational tug-of-war between three stars.
Astronomers have observed systems like this (minus the unruly aliens), confirming that conditions would be as chaotic as we'd imagine, making this otherworldly scenario plausible.
In the third book, "Death's End," author Liu Cixin writes of an alien fleet on its way to Earth and a desperate plan to send a probe to intercept forces and gain enemy intel.
"3 Body Problem" adapts an entire subplot with almost complete fidelity through the character of Will Downing (Alex Sharp), who is terminally ill and volunteers for the mission.
As for that storyline's scientific accuracy, humanity hasn't yet found a way to flash-freeze someone's brain, load it on a rocket, and blast it light-years away to study aliens.
However, the logistics behind the "nuclear pulse propulsion" aspect are actually theoretically sound, based on a real-world government effort called Project Orion.