The atmosphere is poisoned and slowly dying. Even the frogs are extinct. Hence, the Mars Terraforming Project, which has strewn algae over a stretch of Mars in an effort to create enough oxygen to sustain human life. The mechanism for transmitting data on the experiment has failed, and a manned spaceship, commanded by Carrie-Anne Moss, has been launched to investigate. After decades of extraterrestrial movies, the interior of a space vehicle may seem as familiar as your living room.
Trouble starts as the ship approaches Mars.
A solar flare races through the interior of the craft, forcing premature dispatch of the shuttle and its crew members. They land with a thud on the bleakly inhospitable terrain of the red planet. And red it is, its desolation photographed eerily through a red lens. The crew meets one life-threatening challenge after another as Moss attempts to guide them from above. And yes, there is animal life on Mars, though not the kind you would want for a household pet.