Making Built for Mars: The Perseverance Rover
Was the Jezero Crater on Mars once a river? Was it once teeming with life? Mark Davis is hoping so. The Producer/Writer/Director for National Geographic followed NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and witnessed problem-solving under extreme pressure. Davis knew that the real story was the people. The talented flight technicians, engineers, and hands-on blue-collar workers took center stage in this story. His film “Built For Mars” will coincide with the historic landing of the Perseverance Rover which ideally sets the scene for the main event. NASA geeks set those reminders to Feb. 18, 2021, at 8 PM/7 C on the National Geographic Channel. Go behind the scenes with Mark to find out what went into making “Built For Mars.”
Colleen Bement: Science nerds are excited to see “Built For Mars.” So many of us are ready for the day humans land on the red planet. My first question is what inspired you to create this project?
Mark Davis: It began with Spirit and Opportunity. I started filming my first Mars rover documentary when they were being built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2002. I saw people working under incredible pressure, solving one problem after another that could have killed the mission before it ever got to the launch pad. I saw the rovers launch from Cape Canaveral the next summer, and then I was back at JPL when they landed on Mars in January 2004. Up to the very last minute, no one knew if they would land safely or end up as smoking piles of junk.
When Spirit touched down safely, followed by Opportunity, all the years of stress and anxiety suddenly morphed into an eruption of joy and relief like nothing I’d ever seen or felt, everyone screaming, laughing, and sobbing. After the first pictures came down, I walked outside, looked up at Mars, a tiny red speck of light in the night sky, 100 million miles away, and I thought, how is this possible? They built these machines, got them up there somehow, now they’re sending back pictures of things no one has ever seen before. That was an inspiration that never went away. I followed the Curiosity rover story in the same way, and over the past two years, I’ve been lucky enough to do it again with Perseverance. It never gets old.
CB: What was it like being in the same room with the flight technicians?
MD: I’ve always been fascinated by Mars, but once I started following these missions behind the scenes, I realized that, for me, the real story is the people. At first, I thought they must all be scientists and engineers, but eventually, I caught on to the fact that the people putting all this complex hardware together are not rocket scientists. They’re hands-on, blue-collar workers. So being in the same room with flight technicians is a bit like being in the same room with people who work on cars, or build houses, or fix bicycles, except they also have the experience, skills, and discipline needed to build spacecraft. They’re impressive.
CB: Were there any challenges in filming and producing this film?
MD: The same thing that makes Mars missions so exciting also makes them very challenging to film. You never know what’s going to happen next. It’s a huge, complicated, sprawling enterprise, and it’s not easy to stay on top of what’s going on day by day, hour by hour, what crucial piece of the story is happening when and where. It’s not something you can drop in on once in a while. You have to be ready to film at a moment’s notice pretty much every day. And then, when something goes wrong – when a test fails, or a major crisis develops – you have to find a way to stay in the loop and capture the story, which is really the only way to convey how difficult it is to build hardware for Mars to do something that’s never been done before, and have it work when it gets there.
On top of all that, this time there was the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced NASA to lock down the JPL team in Florida just after they arrived with the spacecraft in February to prepare for launch in July. Fortunately, some of the techs were willing to take on the job of being videographers. So yes, there were a lot of challenges.
CB: If you had the opportunity to take a trip to Mars, despite the risks, would you do it?
MD: If I could be teleported to Mars, hike around for a few days, and teleport back? Sure, I’d love to do that. But a 1000-day minimum roundtrip is not something I’d want to do. And I definitely have no fantasies about living on Mars long term. I like being able to go outside and breathe fresh air. On the other hand, I’d love to go to the Moon. A two-week round trip with great views of the Earth and some low-G Moon walks sound fantastic.
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Written by Colleen Bement
Lynn Makes
Evan Conroy
Ron Peterson