A Mars game coming to PC in 2024 will get a big boost from a planetary scientist.
Konstantin Batygin, who is best known for his search for the mysterious Planet Nine that may be far out in the solar system, will join the team behind "Mars Horizon 2," an upcoming game that has players search for fictional Red Planet life.
Batygin, a California Institute of Technology planetary scientist, has pledged to help the gaming team with Mars mission design and fact-checking the research, developer Auroch Digital and publisher Secret Mode wrote in a release.
"His invaluable knowledge and expertise will ensure that 'Mars Horizon 2' is as authentic as possible, accurately portraying space exploration and extrapolation beyond present day as the search for life in the universe continues," the statement added. For his own part, Batygin retweeted the announcement Thursday (May 11) from the official Mars Horizon 2 Twitter account.
Related: Hunt for alien biosignatures in 'Mars Horizon 2: The Search for Life' on PC
Mars Horizon 2 is the successor to the "space race"-like Mars Horizon, which released in 2020. The original game allowed players to design virtual rocket programs based on real-life space hardware from NASA, the European Space Agency and other worldwide space groups.
Of the successor game, the developers wrote on March 7, players will "race to make discoveries ahead of rival agencies, using established scientific methodology in tandem with modern and near-future technologies to seek, recover, and analyze alien biosignatures."
Both Mars Horizon games are somewhat similar to the popular Kerbal Space Program (KSP) series; KSP 2 released on Feb. 24 and is still delivering early access updates for players. Kerbal also has players managing space programs, but focuses a little more on real-life physics. The Mars Horizon games hone in on Mission Control elements like managing staff, building facilities or making difficult decisions when missions face issues in space.
Real-life space agencies also have numerous Mars missions on the go in the quest to find ancient life on its surface. For example, NASA and the European Space Agency are engaging in a sample return campaign aiming to bring Red Planet rocks to Earth as soon as 2033.
The Perseverance rover has already collected and stored 10 twin samples of material, one set on the surface of the Red Planet and one inside its belly. The mission design, still being reviewed, for now suggests that Perseverance may deliver the samples to a spacecraft that will relay the material back to our planet. If the rover is disabled, two fresh fetch helicopters would do the planetary deliveries themselves.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
