‘Mars: The Next Giant Leap’ is the latest exhibition at the Carnegie Science Center, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – a museum dedicated to nurturing the next generation of innovators and leaders in science and technology.
By leveraging innovative experiential technology, interactivity, dramatic edge-blended projection, special effects, dynamic content and speciality integration throughout the exhibition, Electrosonic skillfully created immersive environments that are literally ‘out of this world’.
Five experiential and interactive zones create an immersive 300-million-mile ‘space journey’ engaging visitors of all ages and encouraging them to explore and influence different aspects of inhabiting and maintaining a habitable climate on Mars.
As visitors enter the 7500-square-foot exhibition space, they are attracted to ‘View from Mars’, a 10-foot-high projected mural with dramatic telescope images of the evolving Martian landscape. Dynamic projected content transforms the landscape from early images of Mars to contemporary views, bringing the Red Planet to life with color, imagery and animation.
At the ‘Climatology’ exhibit, innovative technology recreates the effects of historic climate change on Earth and Mars. Two circular touchscreen control stations immerse visitors in a tactile journey through evolving worlds while visualizing the impact of different scenarios on the climate of each planet. As visitors select a scenario, content changes on a 25-foot-long edge-blended projection wall.
A central touchscreen station enables visitors to compare the evolution of the climate over time for both planets. Visitors select different periods in time by scrolling through a vertical chart. Complex projection blending creates a large dynamic full-screen comparison of the evolution of the climate of both planets at each point in time.
Visitors are further immersed in an out-of-this-world experience as part of the ‘Martian Garden’ space. Using a 55-inch touchscreen, they take the role of chefs to re-envision a popular Earth dish with local Martian ingredients. As visitors choose ingredients, the resulting creations display on-screen in a blend of creativity and engagement.
In ‘Martian Living’, visitors engage with stories of Mars in a multisensory immersive experience that blends visual and auditory wonders. After interacting with a 55-inch touchscreen to explore and design a Martian living space, their designs are displayed as vibrant illustrations on a screen. Visitors can also unlock a world of ‘first-hand’ tales from a ‘Martian resident’ by pulling out physical drawers that trigger sound effects and stories about life on Mars.
The climax of the exhibition is ‘Dream Big: Space’ – a large-scale, awe-inspiring interactive physical model that recreates what a colony on Mars could look like — and how it could evolve based on by visitors’ decisions.
Using one of four touchscreens, visitors explore the model and vote on issues that could influence the colony’s development. Projection on the model from three projectors highlights different areas of the colony that are affected by visitors’ votes. Four integrated LED screens display beautifully detailed animations of the colony’s interior life, changing content in response to visitors’ votes.
The five custom experiences in the Mars Museum required high levels of complex, speciality integration to deliver the client’s ambitious vision and create the stunning immersive environment. The solution also required close collaboration between exhibition designers, content producers, fabricators and systems integrators to achieve the dramatic special effects and ‘other world’ environment. As experiential technology consultants, Electrosonic took responsibility for system integration, detailed engineering and specialist projection.
Mars: The Next Giant Leap is a truly inspiring exhibition where innovative experiential technologies immerse visitors in the realities of another distant world.
Partners
This project required a close partnership and collaboration with exhibition designers Luci Creative, content developers RLMG and fabricators Ravenswood Studios to bring the creative concept to life. As experiential technology consultants, Electrosonic took responsibility for system integration, detailed engineering and specialist projection.