Science’s version of a rock-star, Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson helps the masses understand the universe as the host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.  Recently, however, he turned up in a clever marketing spot for the film The Martian, to help us all understand the merely fictional universe of Ridley Scott’s upcoming film.
Entitled Our Greatest Adventure, the video (embedded above) is patterned after deGrasse Tyson’s TV show and takes viewers on a virtual journey through the cosmos as he explains the dangers and technical challenges of interplanetary travel. He also outlines specific aspects of the Ares 3 mission which — as those who’ve seen the trailer already know — doesn’t go so well for Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon).
Through our host’s lecture, we learn that humans first landed on the Red Planet in 2029 and that the new group of cosmonauts making the 140+ million mile journey will need to contend with cosmic radiation, solar flares, asteroids, meteoroids and — once on the planet’s surface — low oxygen, dust storms, and temperatures that can dip to 100 degrees below zero. Their mission: “Investigate the planet’s biological history, and its potential to cultivate and sustain life.”
The marketing team has taken a very cool, non-traditional approach to hyping this film and has put several different viral-style shorts up on YouTube. One of the most interesting shows the Ares astronauts being interviewed after a 10-day isolation test and features Matt Damon pondering life’s most pressing unanswered questions, like why Aquaman can control whales when they’re mammals and not fish.
Sci-fi fans have been drooling over this one ever since the first trailer dropped and deGrasse Tyson should certainly help give the film some scientific street cred, if you will.
Ridley Scott’s The Martian is based on an Andy Weir novel of the same name and blasts off October 2, 2015. The film also stars Jessica Chastain (Interstellar, Zero Dark Thirty), Kristen Wiig (Welcome to Me, The Skeleton Twins), Kate Mara (House of Cards), Michael Pena (Fury, End of Watch), Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom, Dumb and Dumber To), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Children of Men), and Donald Glover (Community, Mystery Team).
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