›Dr James Green: NASA Chief Scientist “The Martian – Science Fiction and Science Fact”

The bestselling book about an astronaut stranded on Mars was brought to life in Ridley Scott’s film, The Martian. Before production started, Ridley called NASA to obtain information about NASA’s plans for human exploration of Mars as well as the science of Mars that would contribute to a realistic look and feel of the film in keeping with the approach laid out in Andy Weir’s book. An intense period of interaction over several months followed between Ridley’s design team and NASA’s Journey to Mars personnel on everything from habitats and Mars terrains to vehicles, spacesuits, ion engines and radioisotope power systems.

From starting up NASA’s first internet to conducting ground breaking research to hosting NASA’s popular podcast “Gravity Assist,” Green’s contributions to the agency are countless and varied.

Green began his NASA career at the Magnetospheric Physics Branch at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1980. There, he developed and managed the Space Physics Analysis Network, SPAN, which was NASA’s first version of an internet. SPAN helped to herald the era of open science, in which scientists worldwide could rapidly access data and information, as well as communicate with each other.

Wednesday 2nd February at 19:30 GMT

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