National Geographic Channel to Air New Event Series

Of all the planets in the solar system, none have captured imaginations, engaged the top minds in science, and infiltrated pop culture like Mars. Now, National Geographic, Academy Award and Emmy-winning producers Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and Michael Rosenberg of Imagine Entertainment, Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning producer Justin Wilkes, Academy Award and Emmy-winning producers Jon Kamen and Dave O’Connor of RadicalMedia, and visionary Mexican filmmaker Everardo Gout, have joined forces to launch viewers farther into outer space than ever before with the global event series MARS, premiering Monday, Nov. 14  onNational Geographic Channel.

Set both in the future and in the present day, MARS redefines television storytelling by combining feature film-quality scripted drama and visual effects with best-in-class documentary sequences to drive forward a cohesive, edge-of-your-seat story of mankind’s thrilling quest to colonize the red planet. Viewers can watch the out-of-this-world trailers and explore the interactive microsite featuring a digital companion prequel series, and an extensive digital virtual reality experience.

Filmed in Budapest and Morocco, the epic six-part global event series tells the inspiring story from the vantage point of a fictitious crewed mission to Mars in 2024. The scripted portion focuses on Earth’s first crewed mission to Mars aboard the spacecraft Daedalus. Its maiden voyage in 2024 is crewed by a carefully selected international team of six uniquely qualified astronaut.

MARS truly brings together all of the world’s leading minds in a way never before accomplished – the equivalent to the world’s largest TED Talk with the most fascinating experts in the field.

Those interviewed on camera for the series include the following:

• Charles Bolden, Administrator, Former Astronaut, NASA
• Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director, Hayden Planetarium
• Peter Diamandis, Chairman and CEO, XPRIZE Foundation
• David Dinges, Director, Unit for Experimental Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania
• Casey Dreier, Director of Space Policy, The Planetary Society
• Ann Druyan, Creative Director, Voyager Interstellar Mission, NASA
• Charles Elachi, Director, LPL (Ret.)
• Jim Green, Division Director, Planetary Science, NASA
• John Grunsfeld, Associate Administrator, Former Astronaut, NASA
• Jennifer Heldmann, Planetary Scientist, NASA
• Jedidah Isler, award-winning astrophysicist; emerging Explorer, National Geographic
• Thomas Kalil, Deputy Director, White House Office of Science and Technology
• Roger Launius, Smithsonian Institution
• John Logsdon, Founder, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University
• James Lovell, Former NASA Astronaut, Apollo 13 Commander
• Elon Musk, CEO SpaceX
• Stephen Petranek, author, “How We’ll Live on Mars”
• Mary Roach, author, “Packing for Mars”
• Jennifer Trosper, Mars 2024 Mission Manager, JPL
• Andy Weir, author, “The Martian”
• Robert Zubrin, President, The Mars Society