On September 1? the series "First" of the Hulu channel was released, dedicated to the first manned expedition to Mars. The producer of the show was Bo Willimon, the creator of "House of Cards", and the main role was performed by the Oscar-winning Sean Penn. The authors of the series already in the trailer cited the great Karl Sagan, demonstrating a desire to present to the world a deep and philosophical picture of the exploration of outer space. And the series is really capable of making us think about the question "Why does Mars need humanity?", Although it does it in a slightly ambiguous way. But first things first.
 

 
spoke directly , that he did not want to immediately send his heroes to Mars, but sought to show how difficult the road to outer space is still on Earth.
 
 
In the "First" there is a lot of groundwork for the future. Unlike most other films about the conquest of Mars, there is an extremely strong emphasis on realism. It is safe to say that on the Red Planet the earthlings will not encounter the Martians, they will not find controversy with the next Alien (as in the film "Alive"), they will not get into the mysterious physical anomalies (what happened in the film "Mission to Mars"), they will not be pursue a robot assassin ("Red Planet"), do not attack monsters from Hell ("Doom"), etc. In terms of the credibility of the "First" is stronger even the "Martian", which became one of the most realistic fiction films about Mars. After all, the film Ridley Scott for plotting the plot needed a fantastic storm in its power, which is impossible in conditions of an extremely depleted Martian atmosphere. At the same time, the first season of the new series demonstrates the readiness of its creators to portray both the Red Planet itself and the space flight as plausibly as possible.
 
 
However, such a scientific degree has its price. For the series to outstrip the drama of documentaries from National Geographic and Discovery, its authors have relied on revealing the characters of characters and their personal stories. But because of the bias in the family-household drama, the tempo of the narrative is getting low by the middle of the season, the forthcoming space flight proves to be the reason for clarifying the personal relationships between the heroes, and the flash cards can occupy most of the series. And at least part of the audience may think that this is not quite what they expected from the project. In turn, this can affect the ratings of the series and call into question its continuation in the future. It will be really sad, because the "First" has a great potential, which has not yet been fully disclosed.
 
 

Such a close world of 2032 is

 
 
The main events of the series are shown in the early 2030's. during the preparation for the flight to Mars. The fourth industrial revolution in this world has not changed the basis of human civilization. The streets of the cities did not fill the androids, flying cars do not soar in the sky, the Internet does not connect directly to the brain, and pills from old age have not yet been invented. The "First" universe is almost as far from classical cyberpunk themes as our reality. This contrasts sharply with the images of the future in the same Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Detroit: Become Human, whose action occurs around the same time.
 
 

 
A look at the year 2035 from 2004 (the film "I, the robot")
 
 
Unlike most works about the 2030s, in the world of the "First" there are at least a few fantastic and simply too bold assumptions in the field of technological progress. Practically all the technique shown in the series is based on existing technologies and has every chance to appear in reality by 2032. The closeness of the realities of the series to our reality is emphasized by numerous everyday scenes, style of clothes and interior design, where there is no special futuristicity. "The first" as if trying to show that the year 2032 is slightly different from 2018 than the year 2018 of 2003. The vision of the future creators of the series is based more on rather moderate predictions of futurologists than on bold predictions of science fiction writers.
 
 
Electric cars by the 2030's. clearly dominate in motor transport. Which is quite possible both in light of current trends in the automotive industry, and in the conditions of catastrophic global warming, which is mentioned in the series. Already today a number of countries plans to abandon internal combustion engines after 202? and if climate change is gaining more and more threatening turnaround, the transition to electric transport may take place much faster than the current deadline.
 
 

 
In addition to the electric motor, the autopilot and voice control got accustomed to cars.
 
 
Television and the Internet have changed little compared to today, although the Network is not shown in particular detail. Televisions are also popular in apartments and it seems that they are not too different from modern models.
 
 

 
Computer animation of the Martian mission during the broadcast of the first in the history launch to Mars of a manned expedition. Nearly 2 billion people watch this event live.
 
 
However, great changes have come to the sphere of personal gadgets. Smartphones strongly pushed smart bracelets and ear sets, which took up most of the functions of a mobile phone. With the help of a bracelet, you can easily pay in the supermarket by running your hand against the bar code of the package, and the headset was made to be worn in one ear like a hearing aid. These devices are controlled mainly by voice assistants.
 
 

 
Business people almost always wear this headset.
 
 
The voice can also be controlled by a "smart house", although its demonstrated features are mainly reduced to voice control of indoor lighting and TV switching, as well as biometric locks in the doors. All this is already now, only at the beginning of the 2030s it became an entirely normal element of life.
 
But the main everyday novelty were glasses of augmented reality. Here the successors of Google Glass have become ubiquitous. The truth is funny that these devices do not differ in variety and often it seems as though on all the characters of the series only one base model of these glasses. What's strange, because if there is such a powerful demand, the market will quickly fill in a variety of glasses of all shapes and colors that will become an integral feature of the individual style.
 
 

 
In one of the series it is shown how the family at home in the living room with the help of such glasses looks at the dance performance, completely immersed in the virtual reality
 
 
In many episodes AR plays a very important role, which has become an integral part of life, as in our time mobile Internet.
 
 

 
 
In the series, augmented reality led to the "death of a smartphone", which some futurists predict today. And in scenes from the past smartphones are demonstrated many times, but by the time of the main action they almost completely disappear from sight. But how likely is this turn?
 
 

 
Tablets (as well as laptops) still remained
 
 
Medical technology has gone the way of primarily robotization and digitalization. But with all the development of medicine, nevertheless some diseases and in the early 2030s are incurable. One of these ailments remained Alzheimer's syndrome, which is associated with the family drama of one of the members of the team of astronauts.
 
 
Depression and drug addiction remain serious problems, from which some miraculous means have not been found. And if in many films about the future it is said about a variety of new types of narcotic drugs, in the "First" heroin and cocaine remain the most dangerous drugs. Marijuana is also mentioned, but the truth is its legal status in the series is not clear.
 
 

 
A robotic manipulator helps the doctor diagnose the auditory meatus
 
 
The only truly "cyberpunk" technology of the first season was the clever "digital double" of astronauts, which they wound up before being sent into space. A curtsey to the "Black Mirror" came out, but it remains to be seen whether this will play any role for the plot in the future.
 
 

 
During special training, the virtual clone learns the habits and character of the original, learns about his personal problems and tastes. But not everyone had the idea of ​​creating a personal digital ghost
 
 

A difficult road to Mars

 
 
But the most realistic in the series are space technologies. The creation of the show attracted NASA specialists and they fully fulfilled their mission of consultants. Almost all the technologies of the Martian Odyssey, shown at the moment in the series, are based on real prototypes and concepts of the American Space Agency. Perhaps, if the flight to Mars actually takes place by 203? it will be performed approximately as shown in this picture.
 
 
But before sending to space astronauts are forced to prepare for flights for a long time.
 
 

 
Simulation of the spacewalk
 
 
The series also shows exercises in the gym, and training on survival in the wild, and the work of special simulators.
 
 

 
Preparation for zero-gravity conditions
 
 
"First" is given quite a lot of attention and problems of team building. There are pitfalls between the members of the future mission, and the complexity of the selection of astronauts, given that there are only five places on the interplanetary ship. And only after all the complexities of preparation for the flight, the astronauts will be able to go to the launch pad.
 
 

 
SLS at the start of
 
 
First, a team of five astronauts is sent on board the ship " Orion "To near-earth orbit with the help of a rocket" SLS ".
 

 
Flight SLS with the Martian mission aboard
 
 
Orion is in orbit with the Transit Ship, intended for interplanetary flight.
 
 

 
 
This ship was pre-assembled in orbit from separate blocks, like the stations "Mir" and "ISS".
 
 

 
Installation work on the interplanetary ship
 
 
After moving to the Transit Ship, astronauts have to fly to Mars for 7 months. There they will spend 18 months of research, after which they are waiting for 7 months to go home.
 
 

 
Working off on the landing simulator on Mars
 
On the Red Planet, astronauts should descend in the landing module. In the landing area, they are already waiting for a robotic mission, which generates from the atmosphere of Mars the fuel needed to exit the module back to the Martian orbit. However, this part of the mission has already faced a number of technical problems, and apparently in the second season, the astronauts, it will take away a lot of strength.
 
 
Both "Orion" and "SLS" are being actively developed by NASA, including taking into account the possibility of using these devices in a manned expedition to Mars. The first launch of the Orion should take place in 201? and the SLS missiles in 2020. Although the SLS program has enough critics, there is a certain possibility that these ships will actually send people to the Red Planet in the early 2030s, ies. And such a flight in many respects will have to resemble what is shown in the "First".
 
 
Of course, you can not drop the chance of SpaceX to get ahead of everyone on the way to Mars. However, the scheme of flight to the Red Planet from the company Ilona Mask is significantly different from NASA projects and, perhaps, the version of SpaceX will be much more difficult to implement.
 
 

 
The vision of the Martian mission from SpaceX
 
 
And although the Martian mission in the series "The First" is not like the plan for SpaceX, but Ilon Mask himself clearly became a prototype for one of the main characters in the picture. Speech about Laz Ingram (played by Natasha McElhoun), the leader of the private space company Vista, which realizes the flight to Mars. She is a tough business woman, aware that the colonization of Mars will take many human lives, but still stubbornly going to her dream. She is suffering from chronic pain, so she constantly uses analgesics, sometimes she does not have a relationship with the press, and she urgently needs to maintain good relations with the political elite in Washington. After all, the Martian expedition is financed by the American state, and this project has enough political opponents.
 
 
On the scale of the company's "Vista" says at least the construction of their own cosmodrome in the state of Louisiana, from where the astronauts will be sent to Mars. However, other projects of the company Ingram were behind the scenes. Perhaps, in the following seasons, the situation and prospects of private space exploration will be revealed in more detail.
 
 

 
The Space Flight Management Center of Vista Corporation
 
 
In general, the show captivates with its desire to show a reliable picture of the exploration of outer space. The same "Martian" in comparison with him looks like a fantasy movie. It is worth comparing at least the means of flight to Mars in these sagas about the cosmonauts of the future.
 
 

 
Minimalistic interplanetary station of the series
 
 

 
"Hermes" from the filmand the "Martian" is much more expensive and complex ship, but at the same time less realistic
 
 
And although in some places the series has turned out to be uneven, however, the history of the "First" is certainly worth attention and it makes sense to wait for new seasons.