Nat Geo’s ‘Mars’ returns for season two

It was two years ago that the world got addicted to a new concept on the National Geographic Channel, Mars.

The hybrid show tells a fictional story about the first Mars colonisers years from now, with the other half done in documentary format where experts talk about space travel and the future of humanity on Mars.

After two years, the continuation of the story is finally here – and it’s unmissable. The good news is, Mars will also be available to stream on Cell C’s Black.

The latest season picks up five years after the conclusion of the first. It’s now 2042 and IMSF has established a fully fledged colony, Olympus Town, but they cannot finance the Mars expedition alone.

Human greed and a new world of challenges on the Red Planet merge.

In season two of Mars, the mission to colonise Mars becomes a battle between science and self-interest. Picture: National Geographic

On the scripted front, the series is standard entertainment – pregnancy, break ups, new romances, epidemics, breakdowns, power outages and creating a new world.

On the documentary front, present-day vignettes draw parallels to the future happenings on Mars by looking at some of the dire issues facing Earth’s last frontier – the Arctic.

This includes a spectrum of events that currently are compromising life on Earth like drilling, glacial melting, rising sea levels and indigenous health epidemics which surface when the permafrost melts.

Some returning big thinkers, as well as new guests are tasked with explaining the future without it being dire.

The speakers include Elon Musk (SpaceX CEO), Ellen Stofan (former Nasa chief ), Michio Kaku (theoretical physicist and futurist), Casey Dreier (director of space policy at the Planetary Society), Antonia Juhasz (leading oil and energy expert) and Naomi Klein, the best-selling author of No Logo and an activist and award-winning journalist on climate change.

Klein is tasked to discuss corporate greed and how Mars will look if capitalism gets involved – and how that society will mirror the current world with many of the same social issues ills.

Elon Musk. Picture: AFP/File | Brendan Smialowski

“The series underscores how human nature doesn’t change when we become Martians, but navigating how we harness our instincts, emotions and behaviours on Mars is uncharted territory,” says Justin Wilkes, co-creator and executive producer of Mars.

Mars returns on Sunday on National Geographic on DStv and Cell C Black.

Interesting facts about Mars

• In 2014, the Curiosity Rover discovered “burps” of methane, which Nasa scientists have said could indicate “life or ancient life”.

• In September 2016, scientists found evidence of briny water flowing on Mars during summer, which could also indicate signs of life.

• Missions to Mars from Earth have become increasingly rare. After 23 launches in the 1960s and 1970s, there have been just 10 global spacecraft launches to Mars this millennium.

• Nasa is planning to create an “Earth-independent” Mars colony by the 2030s.

• Just more than 1 000 people from 202 000 applicants will be selected for the Mars One project, an initiative that aims to create a human colony on Mars in about 10 years.

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