Bing-logo-orange-RGBThe Martian, a film staring Matt Damen, is set to release in a little over two weeks from now, and I’m actually curious to see the movie myself.  The movie is based on a novel written by Andy Weir, and is about an astronaut, Mark Watney, and his journey back to Earth as the only person to survive a NASA journey to Mars.

To help promote the upcoming film,  Bing is partnering with 20th Century Fox  by creating a map of Mars (using Bing Maps API) that follows the character, Mark Watney, as  he moves across the planet.  There are even Bing search results that will provide deeper insight into the story line of The Martian.

The Bing team is making it easy for people to get deeper into The Martian story with a special map experience, providing helpful search results with information on Mars and space travel — topics that are of increasing interest, yet remain alien, to most of us. We’ve also created related lesson plans for students, found at Bing in the Classroom.
-Bing Search Blog

Users will be able to track Mark’s progress with Bing, and along the way, they’ll have access to text, image and video “transmission” messages.  There will even be information about the planet, as well as space travel.  To make things feel more immersive, between now and when the movie is released, users will get access to at least one new transmission message posted every day.


Finally, the Bing search results for The Martian will include the movie’s official trailer and info on the cast, as well as film reviews and ticket details.  You can even find lesson plans on Bing in the Classroom that focus on science, engineering, and space exploration to coincide with the film.

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