Development & Aid, Environment, Tierramerica

A Passport to the Universe

MEXICO CITY, Jan 26 2004 (IPS) - The Papalote Children's Museum in Mexico will inaugurate the world's largest digital dome on Feb. 3, with an interactive spectacle that will transport audiences to the farthest reaches of the cosmos, 15 billion light-years away.

Mexico is a long way from the “space race”, but is opening the door for its people to leave Earth and the Milky Way for the edge of the known universe, in a virtual voyage that is impossible in any other Latin American country.

Seated beneath a dome measuring 23 meters in diameter, upon which nine cameras project real images of outer space using 16 million colors, the “travelers” will be able to enter the Orion nebula, the “star factory” closest to Earth, at 1,500 light-years.

“Passport to the Universe”, an interactive three-dimensional show with surround sound, marks the premiere on Feb. 3 of the Papalote Children's Museum's digital dome system, the world's largest.

The show, produced by the Hayden Planetarium of the U.S. National Museum of Natural History, based in New York, offers some of the most spectacular images of the cosmos, at distances of 15 billion light-years.

These images, from NASA (the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the European Space Agency, are the result of the most recent discoveries in astrophysics and space exploration, responding to the age-old question: Where did we come from?

“It is a voyage of knowledge about the universe we inhabit and the universe that inhabits us,” Berta Mendieta, manager of what has been dubbed the “Domodigital”, told Tierramérica.

In a country where space science is in the embryonic stage, the new projection facility was received with enthusiasm by the scientific community and by private companies, which contributed funds to make the digital dome possible.

The aim of Papalote (a local expression meaning 'kite') is to bring science to the people, and for the past 10 years the museum has been successful in doing so, which is why there is full confidence in the new project, despite its price tag of three million dollars, said the museum's general director, Marinela Servitje.

Ed Lantz, development manager for the U.S. company Spitz, specialized in digital domes, with 1,200 installed throughout the world, said the projection technique is inverted viewing.

It is a multimedia environment that attempts to create what “a feeling of presence”, the feeling that one is actually inside a specific environment, in this case, the universe. “It is an emotional interactive experience,” he said.

Mexican astronomers and scientists are amazed by the quality of the images and pleased because the digital dome will likely spark viewer interest in science and promote investment in technology, areas where Mexico lags behind.

Less than 0.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) goes towards scientific research, and the budget for space research is practically nonexistent.

The Papalote Children's Museum expects around 624,000 people will pay the five-dollar admission to see “Passport to the Universe” in 2004.

In 2005, another show, also from the American Museum of Natural History, “The Search for Life: Are We Alone?”, will be exhibited. It describes the attempts by the world's scientific community to find signs of life beyond Earth.