NatGeo Has a Great Alternative to Moving to Canada: Mars!

You may joke about moving to Canada after the recent Presidential election results… but maybe, sooner rather than later, you could actually move to Mars instead.

According to MARS, a new National Geographic (NatGeo) miniseries recently screened at the organization’s M Street headquarters, a human presence on the red planet is much closer than we think.

“… We actually are looking now at places where we would put our first humans on the surface,” said Dr. Jim Greem, NASA’s Planetary Science Director, at a panel discussion following the screening.

“This is not science fiction, this is science facts,” said Director and Executive Producer Everardo Gout at the panel.

The show seamlessly weaves documentary sequences featuring interviews with Spacex’s Elon Musk, experts from NASA, and others who are actually working on making a Mars mission possible, with the scripted drama of six characters who, in 2033, become the first humans to land there. As explained by scientists and borne out by the actors, it’s not (going to be) easy. From developing batteries that resist -100-degrees-Celsius temperatures to new landing methods and more, “the technology is another character in the series; it’s the technology that drives the exploration,” said Jeff Sheehy, Senior Technical Officer of the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA.

And it’s the technology that inspires. Lead actor Ben Cotton agreed said that “a show like this has the potential to inspire young people to go into the sciences in a way that the Apollo missions did in their time.”

You can decide that for yourself!  MARS premiers on the National Geographic Channel on November 14 at 9 ET.