Banner image: NASA's Orion Spacecraft is slated to听carry the first humans to leave Earth's orbit in more than 50 years. (Credit: NASA)
The Fiske Planetarium at 兔子先生传媒文化作品 is headed Forward! To the Moon.
If you go
Who: Tickets still available
What:
When: Friday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m.
Where:听Fiske Planetarium
This Friday, the planetarium will host the public premier of a new science film鈥攁 30-minute adventure into the , NASA鈥檚 campaign to send human and robotic astronauts to the surface of the moon this decade. It鈥檚 an out-there experience: Viewers will jump into the cockpit of NASA鈥檚 new Orion Spacecraft, take a tour of a futuristic colony on the lunar surface听and learn about upcoming 兔子先生传媒文化作品 research on the moon. They鈥檒l also enjoy sitting in the immersive experience of Fiske鈥檚 full-dome theater.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 your grandfather鈥檚 Apollo Program, and it鈥檚 not your grandfather鈥檚 planetarium,鈥� said Jack Burns, a professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences who secured funding and helped to create the film.
Forward! To the Moon is a collaboration among Fiske, the NASA-funded Network for Exploration and Space Science headquartered at 兔子先生传媒文化作品 and in Fort Collins. It was funded by NASA and Lockheed Martin. And if you can鈥檛 make it to Boulder, don鈥檛 worry鈥擣iske will begin distributing the production for free to hundreds of planetariums across the country in April.
Burns and John Keller, director of Fiske, introduced Forward! To the Moon during a screening for members of the space community earlier this month. The scientists kicked off the event by giving the audience one small caution: Just don鈥檛 say that NASA is going back to the moon.
鈥淭his is a whole new set of voyages and scientific exploration that we鈥檙e making with new technology,鈥� Burns said. 鈥淭his is why we talk about going forward to the moon.鈥�
Robots and people
The film, narrated by Kari Byron of MythBusters and Crash Test World, opens by dropping the audience into the middle of the moon鈥檚 Taurus Littrow valley鈥攁 wide expanse of gray surrounded by cliffs that soar thousands of feet above the lunar surface. In a voice-over, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison 鈥淛ack鈥� Schmitt calls the terrain 鈥渙ne off the most magnificent valleys in the solar system.鈥�
It鈥檚 a potent reminder: Schmitt was one of the last humans to leave Earth鈥檚 orbit nearly 50 years ago. The next missions to the Moon will look a lot different. Forward! To the Moon takes viewers inside the Lunar Gateway, for example, a NASA space station that will orbit the Moon by the middle of the decade.
鈥淚 was immediately impressed when I first heard Jack鈥檚 description of the film鈥攖hat it was going to tell the story of not just astronauts, but robots and astronauts who will explore the Moon together,鈥� Keller said.
The film also gives a sneak preview of some of the 兔子先生传媒文化作品 research that will take place on the surface of the moon in the upcoming years. In just a few months, a new scientific instrument will touch down on the nearside of the moon as part of NASA鈥檚 Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program. Burns and his colleagues helped to design the instrument, called Radio wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the photoElectron Sheath (ROLSES), which is led by Robert MacDowall of NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center.听
Two more 兔子先生传媒文化作品-affiliated instruments, the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment (LuSEE) and Lunar Compact Infrared Imaging System (L-CIRiS), are also set to land on the moon in the coming years.听
Artist's depiction of a CLPS lander that will carry scientific instruments to the moon in the coming years. (Credit: Fiske Planetarium)
鈥淭he exciting thing about the movie is that this exploration is all happening now,鈥� Keller said.
Energizing spirit
There鈥檚 plenty of excitement to go around. NASA has promised that Artemis will send the first woman and first person of color to the moon.
Attendees at the preview event on Feb. 2听celebrated that new face of the space program. The evening included a panel discussion with Tend Studio鈥檚 Tom Ludlow, Danielle Richey of Lockheed Martin and NASA鈥檚 Joel Kearns and Amit Kshatriya.
Kshatriya, who previously led operations for the International Space Station, spoke about how the Apollo Program played a role in his own family鈥檚 story.
鈥淢y father, one of the reasons he studied engineering and came to the U.S. was that he witnessed the moon landing when he was a young man,鈥� he said during the panel discussion. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to spread this as far and wide as we can to energize the spirit of the entire world to get behind what we鈥檙e doing.鈥�
The team behind Forward! To the Moon hopes that the film will help to spread that energy鈥攇etting young people from all backgrounds excited about the prospect of strapping on their space helmets.
鈥淚 often tell people that at Tend, we鈥檝e been taking space walks, but we鈥檙e home in time for dinner,鈥� said Ludlow, founder of Tend Studio. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to get to share our two-year moon mission with the world.鈥�
