Photo courtesy of The Adler Planetarium
in these different worlds— which are real and exciting places. SubbaRoa is director of the Space Visualization Lab that rendered much of what you see in the new show. The journey experience begins at a futuristic spaceport in the Adler’s Clark Family Welcome Gallery. And the show starts before you even realize it. Passengers move through a space portal to enter the Grainger Sky Theater, board their “Space Express” ship and prepare for launch. A surprisingly realistic vertical launch takes the ship through Earth’s atmosphere into orbit, where passengers get an awe-inspiring view of their home planet through the 35-foot viewing dome overhead. Then it’s off to the Moon to explore the site of the first lunar landing. Through the heart of the Solar System to the depths of Valles Marineris—a canyon that stretches one-fifth of the way around Mars—visitors continue their immersive journey through the Asteroid Belt making stops at Jupiter and Saturn with Jesse and Max navigating them through the whole experience. Nothing is really left to chance in this dynamic live encounter. And that’s because it takes the scientific experience of universal exploration (something typically done only through powerfully imagery) and imbues it with memorable live theater that pulls you right into the process. The interactive “live tour” element the show personalizes the whole experience for the viewer. And it does so in such a way as to create a channel through which viewers are better able to digest (and, yes, even retain) the knowledge presented, taking you far beyond the standard plug and play museum encounter. As SubbaRoa put it, in Destination Solar System, “…we’re not just presenting science, (we’re) inviting you inside the experience.” You can get inside the experience of Destination Solar System daily at the Adler Planetarium on Chicago’s Museum Campus, just south of the Loop. Admission is included in the Museum’s All Access Pass. For more information, visit adlerplanetarium.org.
Planetarium president and CEO. “And we shake up what seems familiar by taking you to exciting and wild places right next door. This show explores our celestial neighborhood in a visual and entertaining way that is fun, scientifically accurate and sure to be memorable.” And because it’s the Adler it’s not just a show. Presented live by a trained actor in the role of “Jesse,” Destination Solar System features world-class simulations relying upon scientific data from current planetary space missions. With breathtaking visuals—many never seen before—Grainger Sky Theater technology enables visitors to explore space as if they were actually there. In Destination Solar System, instead of audiences being relegated to passive observers, they become active explorers immersed in their own personal space journey. As Adler astronomer Mark SubbaRoa, Ph.D. pointed out, now is the perfect time to get theatrical about space exploration. “We are in a golden age of planetary science right now,” said SubbaRao. “There has been an incredible amount of exploration and discovery in the Solar System over the past several years, and we’ve developed new visualizations of the latest scientific data to immerse audiences
Above: With Destination Solar System, guests get an up-close-and-personal look at the hot spots and solar flares of our galaxy's sun, all in a theatrical experience that includes a futuristic tour guide and a talking shipboard artificial intelligence.
Autumn 2014CNCJA•21