G - ROBOTECH

When the novel was first published, NASA invited Andy Weir to tour the Johnson Space Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When Ridley Scott began preparing the film, Weir contacted NASA to collaborate on the film. When Scott and producer Mark Huffam had their first production meeting, they called NASA and spoke with its film and television liaison Bert Ulrich. NASA decided to assist the filmmakers with depicting the science and technology in The Martian since it saw potential in promoting space exploration. Key NASA staff members that joined the partnership were James L. Green, the Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA, and Dave Lavery, the Program Executive for Solar System Exploration. Scott conversed with Green twice before filming started. Over a period of a month, NASA answered hundreds of questions—on a weekly basis—on everything from radioisotope systems to the look of potential "habs"—the residences for future Mars astronauts. The questions were answered by Green or passed on to the right expert, and then came back to Scott's team to make their way into the production. The space agency also sent hundreds of files of real images of Mars and images of control centers, down to what the computer screens look like, to the production team. Green arranged a tour of the Johnson Space Center for production designer Arthur Max, who met with individual specialists, taking hundreds of photos as he went for eight hours.  The production designers created a futuristic, heavily modernised Mission Control as a studio set; Ars Technica described its depiction as "the space agency that we all dream of" and the opposite of the real Johnson Centre's appearance as "a run down college campus." Newsweek said NASA collaborated more with The Martian than most other films, "Staff from many NASA departments consulted on the film, from script development through principal photography, and are now helping with marketing timed to the theatrical release." As part of the collaboration, the production's NASA liaison included the front page of the script for The Martian in the payload of the spacecraft Orion during its Exploration Flight Test 1 on December 5, 2014. The Los Angeles Times said NASA and the wider scientific community anticipated the film as a way to publicize a human mission to Mars. The New York Times reports that the film, "serves as a nice plug for NASA, which has returned the favor by pushing the movie on its website. (On Monday [September 28, 2015], scientists announced that signs of liquid water could be seen in photographs taken on Mars by a camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, timing that suggests NASA certainly has the whole cross-promotion thing down.)". Jim Erickson, NASA project manager, said the film would show moviegoers "the risks and rewards" of humans traveling to Mars.