Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains NASA’s Fictional Mars Trip In ‘The Martian’ Promo
Neil deGrasse Tyson has been recruited to set the stage for the movie The Martian in a fictional episode of Star Talk from the not-so-distant future. Using computer graphics reminiscent of Cosmos, Tyson explains the Ares 3 mission.
The Martian starring Matt Damon is based on the bestselling novel by Andy Weir according to Entertainment Weekly. The story details the struggles of one astronaut who is stranded on Mars after a storm leaves the rest of his crew dead.
The film explores some complicated science, and scrutinizing the science in movies is one of Tyson’s hobbies. But instead of picking apart the movie’s flaws, the famous Astrophysicist is promoting the film — or at least the mission featured in the film.
“Ever since our species first looked up at the sky, we’ve dreamed of reaching Mars. Back in 2029, that dream became real when the first humans set foot on the Red Planet. And in a few months, a new group of astronauts will make the journey.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson also details many of the dangers the Ares 3 mission may encounter, according to Slate, including asteroids, cosmic radiation, and solar storms — giving some foreshadowing into what will happen in the actual movie.
This is not the first time the astrophysicist has given a film his scientific stamp of approval.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Neil deGrasse Tyson also spoke in-depth on the science of Interstellar. That movie explanation was generally positive, even though he didn’t understand why they would consider colonizing a planet so close to a black hole.
He pointed out some of the film’s best scientific accuracies on Twitter too.
In #Interstellar: You enter a 3-Dimensional portal in space. Yes, you can fall in from any direction. Yes, it’s a Worm Hole.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
In #Interstellar: The producers knew exactly how, why, & when you’d achieve zero-G in space. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
In #Interstellar: Experience Einstein’s Relativity of Time as no other feature film has shown.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
Tyson’s slick featurette for The Martian seems to indicate that the science behind the film must be equally convincing. As the AV Club explained, it might be a film that helps inspire a generation for a real life mission to Mars, something that has been on the drawing boards at NASA for sometime.
The Martian starring Matt Damon will hit theaters October 2nd, 2015.
[Image Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images]
