Neil deGrasse Tyson explains a fake Mars mission so well it almost hurts
If you aren't excited for the film adaptation of "The Martian," a bestselling sci-fi novel by Andy Weir, this new video starring Neil deGrasse Tyson may do the trick.
Complete with epic music, stunning animations, and poetic narration from Tyson, it's clear the team behind the upcoming movie created the clip to look like a future episode of Cosmos. Tyson describes the spacecraft and mission so well, it almost hurts that they're not real.
In the fictional episode, Tyson walks the audience through the mission to Mars.
"Ever since our species first looked up at the sky, we've dreamed of reaching Mars," Tyson says in the opening. "Back in 2029 that dream became real when the first human set foot on the red planet."
It's a clear nod to NASA's real-life promise to get us to Mars by the 2030s. Tyson even has some gray hair to make the ruse feel more plausible.
The video is a perfect explanation of the ship that the main character, astronaut Mark Watney, and the rest of the crew will use to get to Mars in the movie.
The spaceship is called the Hermes, and it's the most complex and expensive object ever built, Tyson says.Hermes sits in low Earth orbit between missions to Mars.When an astronaut crew is ready to make the 140-million-mile journey to the red planet, they take a space shuttle up to Hermes and set sail on a cruise-controlled flight.
Here's the inside of the ship, as seen in an earlier promotional video for "The Martian":
The journey to Mars is treacherous though, Tyson explains. Hermes is bombarded with cosmic radiation as it flies through the vacuum of space:The cosmic radiation can rip through an astronaut's DNA, damaging it beyond repair:
Thankfully Hermes is designed to shield the astronauts from the radiation. However, details on how that works are conveniently left out - probably because NASA hasn't solved that problem in real life (at least not yet).
That's not the only risk during a journey to Mars. Solar flares from the sun and asteroids barreling through space could hit Hermes and leave the crew stranded or worse:
If all goes according to plan, though, Hermes will arrive at Mars roughly 124 days later.
And spend a month living on Mars in a small habitat. It's designed to protect the astronauts from radiation and supply them with oxygen.
Here's what it looks like on the outside:
And on the inside:
YouTube/20th Century Fox
We seriously cannot wait for the movie adaptation of "The Martian," and it seems like Tyson is as excited about it as we are. But seriously: Why can't Hermes and the mission be real?
Watch the full viral video teaser starring Neil deGrasse Tyson below.
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