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Project Progress

We have continued the development, and publicly presented the first two prototypes of, a live digital planetarium show about Titan and Astrobiology, using the all-digital Gates Planetarium at Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS), one of the highest-resolution “full dome” theaters in the world. This live lecture planetarium show makes use of the digital imaging capabilities of the dome, through the innovative Uniview software, a “real time” virtual simulation of the known universe based on accurate astronomical databases and modeling. The inclusion of live musicians, who serve to introduce each section of the show, helps to attract an audience beyond those who reliably come to space science events at the planetarium, and help to create a relaxing and evocative atmosphere conducive to wonder and learning. With Uniview, we can utilize the SPICE Kernels that spacecraft teams use to describe mission trajectories, and create virtual versions which can be followed along through the simulation. Using 3-D spacecraft models, the public can follow spacecraft missions shown with breathtaking realism within the immersive display. We have a detailed model of the Cassini spacecraft, and we are using the most recently updated SPICE kernels of Cassini, including the many Titan flybys, to show the public the fantastic journey of Cassini and Huygens in exploring Titan. In addition to the live lecturer, a second operator controls the Uniview software, allowing these flybys to be seen from any perspective deemed instructive and/or entertaining. Various Cassini and Huygens image data sets, including camera data, infrared spectrometer data and radar data, are being texture mapped and rendered on the moon’s surface. The atmosphere is visually peeled away, and various visuals are used together with an original script and musical score, both written by E/PO lead David Grinspoon, to explore themes of Titan and Astrobiology for the public. The visual content of our prototype was directed by Dr. KaChun Yu, Curator of Space Sciences at DMNS, in collaboration with Dr. Grinspoon. Once we get through the prototyping phase, many parts of this live show will be freely shared with the large and growing network of digital planetariums. More than three dozen planetariums worldwide currently license Uniview, and these theaters will be able to make immediate use of the show content without modification. The other digital full dome planetarium theaters (350 as of this writing, with half in the United States) have licensed real-time visualization software from competing vendors. However all of these theaters are equipped with the ability to playback pre-rendered full-dome movies. A “domemaster” standard exists which allow theaters with very different projection, graphical back-end, and theater configurations to share prerendered content. Since Uniview can save out high resolution “domemaster” frames for a presentation, the visual sequences of our planetarium show can be delivered to any other facility to be played back, allowing for a national and international distribution of the products of this effort.

Our second prototype version of this show, named “Life Out There” was presented for a public audience on July 7 and 8, 2011. Both performances, with little advertising, sold out completely and generated a long waiting list, partly on the strength of the reputation of the local musicians and scientists who participated, and partly on the strength of the evocative subject matter of space exploration and extraterrestrial life. Audience surveys show that the public was delighted at seeing this evocative material presented in this novel format. An advance article in the weekly Denver newspaper Westword also helped to spread the word. The prototype show was extremely well received by the audience. Drs. Grinspoon and Yu are preparing a paper describing the technique and results for the Journal of Astronomy Education, and we are actively working on a new version of the show, building on the first two prototypes and incorporating improvements and lessons from this experience, which will run for three nights in early 2012.

The July 2011 performances were recorded both on audio, using ProTools, and with digital video. Currently we are finishing the editing of a film based on these performances which uses the live audio recording and video footage from both the live camera recordings and a separate digital video output directly from the Uniview planetarium software. We anticipate that this film will be finished and distributed in early 2012. Current plans are for distribution as a DVD and also as a series of web videos that can be streamed or downloaded.