In the 2040s, a professional Martian research base, Tantalus Base outpost, is created. The eight person crew, who have been stationed there for six months, are only nineteen hours from the completion of their research mission. The spacecraft Aurora is inbound from Earth and will collect the team by lander from a prearranged site. Mars scientist Marko Petrović has found samples that may point to life on the planet. Without revealing his discovery, he devises a ruse for one last sojourn on the surface. Crewmate Richard Harrington drives Petrović in a solar powered rover to the spot where he had found the sample. After he obtains soil with the biological agent present, a fissure swallows Petrović.
| The Last Days on Mars | |
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| Directed by | Ruairí Robinson |
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| Screenplay by | Clive Dawson |
| Based on | "The Animators" by Sydney J. Bounds |
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| Music by | Max Richter |
| Cinematography | Robbie Ryan |
| Edited by | Peter Lambert |
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| Running time | 98 minutes |
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| Language | English |
| Box office | $24,084 (US) |
Video: The Last Days on Mars
On the last day of the first manned mission to Mars, a crew member of Tantalus Base believes he has made an astounding discovery - fossilized evidence of bacterial life.
Unwilling to let the relief crew claims all the glory, he disobeys orders to pack up and goes out on an unauthorized expedition to collect further samples. But a routine excavation turns to disaster when the porous ground collapses and he falls into a deep crevice and near certain death.
His devastated colleagues attempt to recover his body. However, when another vanishes, they start to suspect that the life-form they have discovered is not without danger.
