NASA Valkyrie -- The Journey to Mars

Role: Writer I Creative Director I Executive Producer

Formats: Four part digital docuseries I Teasers I Trailers

Scope:: Director Level Stakeholder Engagement I Brand Partnership I Production Design
I Art Direction
I Cinematography


Overview
When Edinburgh Centre of Robotics wanted to tell the story of their collaboration with NASA Johnson Space Center on their shared work on NASA's humanoid robot Valkyrie, they turned to me.
Engaged to lead the creative strategy, narrative development and delivery of a four-part documentary series with privileged access to a once in a life time story: a 6' 2" humanoid robot built by NASA as a companion robot to humans for Missions to Mars, sent to Edinburgh to be developed into a cognisant, responsive, sensing machine.

The Brief
To document the first two years of NASA and Edinburgh's progress in making Valkyrie an intelligent machine under a landmark historic agreement.. NASA has only build three Valkyrie units. Unit A lives at Johnson Space Center, Units B and C were given to MIT and Northwestern to develop. Unit D, who came to Edinburgh, marked the first time NASA was willing to share proprietary technology with an international government. All in pursuit of the next big goal in space exploration: NASA's Journey to Mars Mission.
A truly once in a lifetime brief. All eyes on the AI.

The Challenge
The client budget was limited to a total project budget of under £10,000. The storytelling and production quality had to reflect the expectations of a world-class brand (NASA) where the market value of comparable outputs would typically sit at £2k per finished minute — meaning an actual production deficit of £110k.
Additionally, given the sensitive nature of NASA being a project partner, privileged access required to Johnson Space Center and Edinburgh projects teams extended only to me and no other crew.
For filming in the lab, I had permission to bring in 1 other crew.
With no budget for line production team, and minimal crew permitted on-site, the only way to deliver was for me to assume full responsibility across nearly every creative and delivery function:
• Directed all cinematography — including lens selection, camera ops, and lighting design.
• Carried full responsibility for client communications and approvals at director level within NASA.
• Storyboarded and shaped all narrative arcs and visual treatments.
• Led and executed post-production: editing, colour grading, FX overlays, music placement and mix.
The result: four distinctive, high-impact films that aligned with NASA’s elite reputation and contributed to the global communications strategy around its Journey to Mars initiative.


Execution
--Narrative development across four episodic arcs, structured to align with NASA’s internal comms needs, public science education goals, and festival distribution standards.

--Creative direction for all visual language, marrying high-contrast documentary cinematography with speculative sci-fi references to signal the future-now themes of the mission.

--Filming under strict access limits, achieving multi-camera coverage in an active robotics lab with a minimal crew due to sensitivity of the site and prototype Valkyrie units.

--Integrated visual storytelling, including motion graphics sequences to communicate AI cognition and sensor logic to non-technical audiences.

--High-profile contributor interviews, including Dr. Robert Ambrose (NASA Head of Gamechanging Technology), and key Johnson Space Center leadership.

--Creative parallelism with contemporary performance — filming with renowned dancer Akram Khan to explore mirrored processes of human and robotic motion, learning, and recall.

Coordination with global media outlets, including BBC and ITV, whose news coverage overlapped directly with our documentation days.

--Cinematic trailer & teaser suite for multi-channel deployment, including Edinburgh Science Festival, institutional screenings, and NASA internal comms.


Results
--Series Reach (print + digital): 238,000

--Live Audience Reach (events, festivals, STEM networks): 2.1 million

--Return on Investment: x4

--Used in: NASA internal comms, Edinburgh Centre for Robotics outreach, inter-agency education, public science programming


Distribution highlights
--Featured at Edinburgh Science Festival

--Installed at the National Museum of Scotland's flagship 'Robots' exhibition (2019)

--Used in STEM engagement campaigns and science innovation showcases


NASA Valkyrie Press & Media Coverage
--Featured in: BBC News, ITV Science Bulletin, The Scotsman, The Herald

--Broadcast segments: BBC Radio Scotland, BBC World Service (Science Hour)

--Social media engagement: NASA STEM accounts, ECR networks, Edinburgh Science Festival