Will You Go To Mars? National Geographic Goes To Mars In New Docu-Drama

Since the world is already so messed up, why not go to Mars? Let National Geographic take you there in new documentary drama Mars, where reality and fiction meets.

If you’ve paid attention to your Science class, then you would know that Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, right after the Earth, and is described as the second smallest planet in our solar system. Space Facts, among a number of scientific reports, believes that as a terrestrial planet, Mars could be a possibly livable planet for humans. In fact, to date, at least 68 missions were deployed by different governments and institutions around the world to Mars.

NASA’s Mars Odyssey and the European Space Agency’s Mars Express are two of the most recent and successful expeditions to Mars and these two are still currently operating as of writing.

This immense curiosity and successes with the missions to Mars have greatly influenced a number of media and writings, and a handful of movies set on Mars. One of the very first ones is Aelita, a silent film about a man who travels to Mars and leads an uprising, down to the more recent and famous The Martian, which is a story about an astronaut named Mark Watney who has been left by his troop to survive alone on Mars.

More recently, and the one that is closest to actual scientific findings on Mars, is the National Geographic Channel’s newest documentary-drama entitled Mars. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Mars mixes actual interviews and data on missions sent to Mars with a fictional story set in 2033 where the first manned voyage from Earth is sent to Mars.

The @MarsIMSF crew will live in the Daedalus until they can establish this permanent base on #Mars. #CountdownToMars https://t.co/FB9mrlvRiD pic.twitter.com/3eRsPJldlt

— Nat Geo Channel (@NatGeoChannel) November 13, 2016

Set to air six episodes, Mars has already received mixed feedback from people who have accessed the premiere via the free streaming at the National Geographic page. While the New York Times notes that the premise is quite revolutionary and interesting, to which we completely agree, a lot of people found the drama part dragging and unnecessary.

NASA official Norm Knight says the following about creating Mars.

“The trip to Mars is a long trip, seven months. And we have to understand: What does it mean for an astronaut to be in orbit for that amount of time?”

Ultimately, as of the premiere episode, the documentary part of Mars have accounted for all the positive notes about the series. New Straits Times Online highlights that Mars was able to bring together the thoughts and insights of some of the leading people in the science world such as Neil deGrasse Tyson (director of the Hayden Planetarium), James Lovell (former Nasa astronaut and Apollo 13 Commander), Elon Musk (CEO of SpaceX), Jennifer Trosper (Mars 2020 mission manager at JPL), and Robert Zubrin (president of the Mars Society).

It’s just episode one so we can still expect Mars to pick it up in the following episodes. With a premise this interesting, it’s still, definitely, one to watch.

Mars is streaming free right now so you can go ahead and judge the series for yourself. And if you find yourself quite taken with the idea of going to Mars, National Geographic has partnered with the International Mars Science Foundation (IMSF) to let you experience Mars through virtual reality simulation and mission recreations. You can try and answer the call to Mars via the Make Mars Home recruitment website. The website is rich with information about Mars, getting there, and actually surviving on the red dwarf. It’s a pretty impressive interactive website that’s also worth a shot.

Mars premieres today, November 14, with episode “Novo Mundo.” A new episode will air every Monday until the last episode, “Crossroads,” on December 19.

[Featured Image by National Geographic]