The Real Martians.

During an event on Sept. 17 at NASA headquarters, Administrator Charlie Bolden and other agency officials discussed how the film “The Martian” uses real science from the exploration of Mars by NASA to make the movie. The discussion also touched on how the film’s story, which is set in the 2030s, when NASA astronauts are regularly traveling to Mars and living on the surface, closely matches NASA’s story and efforts to land humans on Mars by that time. NASA collaborated on this film with 20th Century Fox Entertainment, providing guidance on production design and serving as technical consultants.