Rice, HMNS pioneer portable, “immersive” planetarium

CONTACT: Jade Boyd
PHONE: (713) 348-6778
EMAIL: jadeboyd@rice.edu

RICE,
HMNS PIONEER PORTABLE, "IMMERSIVE" PLANETARIUM
NASA Education Effort Aims to Reach Millions with Inflatable Planetarium
Road Shows

Researchers
from the Rice Space Institute, in partnership the Houston Museum of
Natural Science, are leading a NASA-funded project to develop portable
technology that will allow exciting new "fully immersive"
planetarium programs to be shown across the country inside inflatable,
classroom-sized domes.

"Immersive
Earth" is a five-year, $3.1 million project that brings together
six museums, two universities, and three companies to create and distribute
full-dome digital planetarium shows nationwide.

The project’s
portable dome prototype recently started appearing at some Houston-area
schools.

This week,
the dome will be at Annunciation Orthodox School, 3600 Yoakum Blvd.,
on Weds., April 28 from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Interviews and photo shoots
must be scheduled in advance by calling either Valerie Greiner or
Peggy Haney at 713-470-5650.

"Our
planetarium shows are truly immersive because they present the viewer
with images, in front, behind, above and on both sides of their seat,"
said institute director Patricia Reiff, professor of physics and astronomy
at Rice and the principal investigator on the "Immersive Earth"
grant. "People love these shows, and they are a great vehicle
to teach Earth and space science, but unfortunately full-sized planetariums
require six projectors, working in concert with six different computers."

"Immersive
Earth" aims for a wider audience through the development of a
small, fully portable system that uses an inflatable dome and single-projector
display.

The "Immersive
Earth" grant will also pay for the creation of three new programs:
"Earth’s Wild Ride," which is already in production, "Earth
in the Balance" and "Earth in Peril."

A prior grant
from NASA helped create the first "full-dome" multimedia
planetarium programs and the first immersive theater in the U.S.,
the Burke Baker Planetarium at HMNS. Unlike wide-screen theater systems
that are designed to project film images into a viewer’s peripheral
vision, full-dome programs combines traditional planetarium content
like starfield projections with digital animation sequences that fully
immerse viewers with action on all areas of a domed screen.

"The
public loved our early productions — ‘Powers of Time,’
‘Force 5,’ and ‘Night of the Titanic,’" said
Reiff. "But the technology was so sophisticated that we could
only reach people through 40-odd planetariums nationwide."

Dubbed "Globe
Theatre," the original full-dome technology uses a half-dozen
projectors to simultaneously display six individual, interlaced frames
on a planetarium dome. The new system will use a single "fisheye"
projector to display the same type of immersive images on a more intimate
dome.

Dr. Carolyn
Sumners, the project’s co-director, the Director of Astronomy
and Youth Education at HMNS and adjunct professor of physics and astronomy
at Rice, has led in the development of content for these new portable
systems. Tony Butterfield, the Museum’s lead animator, has coordinated
the physical design of this new experience. Dr. Sumners’ research
indicates that students are more engaged and more likely to master
complex concepts after an interactive program using full-dome projections
in a planetarium — either the museum’s Burke Baker Planetarium
or a portable dome.

Other participants
in the program include both the Carnegie Museum of Natural History
and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the Lodestar Planetarium
in Albuquerque, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland,
the Louisiana Arts and Science Center in Baton Rouge, and the Smithsonian
Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., Sky-Skan Inc., Homerun
Pictures Inc. and iMove Inc.

More information
is available at <http://earth.rice.edu>.