NEWS COPY
Is it Trafalgar Square ... or Red Square?
Commuters and tourists were stunned when they hit the streets to find the iconic landmark had been turned into a replica of MARS.
The Red Planet makeover came complete with the same robot British astronaut Tim Peake remotely controlled from space in April.
A team of artists worked overnight to lay a giant 400 square metre canvas over the surface of the capital’s landmark.
To complete Trafalgar Square’s transformation, specialist designers created 3D fibreglass rock sculptures to replicate the surface of Mars.
The installation was revealed to be a marketing campaign by National Geographic to launch new docu-drama, ‘MARS’, which airs from 13th November at 9pm.
Kirsty Howell, Head of PR at Fox Networks Group UK said: “It's an epic space odyssey, telling the story of mankind’s colonisation of the Red Planet.
"What better way to celebrate the launch of the new series than bringing Mars to Earth and sending Londoners out of this world?
“The incredibly realistic landscape unveiled today in Trafalgar Square shows that life on Mars is closer than we think.
“It is no longer a case of ‘if’ but ‘when’ we will reach the Red Planet - and this will happen within our lifetime.”
Surface imagery from Mars was used to create the replica rocky landscape which took artists and engineers two months to make.
The robot featured in the replica Mars landscape is the ExoMars Rover prototype known as Brigitte, which was driven remotely by astronaut Tim Peake while he was on the International Space Station.
Brigitte was created by Airbus, which is pioneering the building of the vehicles in the UK with support from the UK Space Agency.
Airbus is currently developing the ExoMars rover vehicle for the European Space Agency’s 2020 mission to search for life on Mars.
Kirsty Howell said: “National Geographic is going further, as pioneers committed to pushing boundaries, and our thrilling new docu-drama ‘MARS’ blurs the line between the future and reality in a gripping way, never before seen on television.
Watch MARS on Sunday 13th November 2016 at 9pm on National Geographic.
ENDS
