Terra Mater seeks ‘Microsofts of the media world’ for space projects
Terra Mater Studios is developing an asteroid exploration mission documentary
Terra Mater Studios, the factual production arm of drink giant Red Bull, is seeking partners for documentary and scripted projects it is developing around a joint European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA asteroid exploration mission.
The Austrian outfit, best known for award-winning blue-chip wildlife programming, has already joined forces with ESA and NASA on the agencies’ upcoming Hera mission. This will see the launch in October of a spacecraft that will survey an asteroid targeted by a previous mission designed to prevent such objects from hitting Earth.
Terra Mater is making an accompanying documentary that will air in 2025 and a scripted project has also received backing from ESA but the Vienna-based studio is now searching for further partners for both.
Hera will head for the same Dimorphos asteroid that was hit by NASA’s DART mission in 2022 as part of attempts to explore scope for deflecting potential Earth impacts.
The spacecraft is currently undergoing its final system tests in the Netherlands in preparation for transport to its launch site in the US.
Meanwhile, Terra Mater is working with ESA and NASA to deploy a Planetary Defence Companion App at the same time, which will allow people to communicate with Hera during its journey.
“Microsoft is now an official partner of that mission, and they have helped us with their best coders to produce and program the best possible space companion, because they have access to OpenAI and ChatGPT,” Terra Mater director and exec producer Markus Mooslechner told C21.
“To launch such a project on a global scale, you need a very potent partner. On the other hand, we’re discussing with some very promising media partners, but we are still looking for the Microsofts of the media world.”
Mooslechner, who was at Sunnyside of the Doc in La Rochelle, France last week presenting the project, said a three-part documentary following the Hera mission over the past two years was in the works and the company is seeking platform partners for release in 2025.
At the same time, he added: “We do have a scripted, fictional piece in our draw, which is greenlit by ESA, which is also looking for funding because the overall mission serves as a great basis for a fictional story. It’s all about finding the right partners and finding the proper funding.”
To hear more about these initiatives, Terra Mater’s use of AI and Mooslechner view on how the technology will impact the TV business tune in to C21FM today.
