Our Place in the Universe

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CHAPTER 8 — SPACE SCIENCES Our Place in the Universe

CHAPTER 8

SPACE SCIENCES Our Place in the Universe

Carol Cochran, The Colorado Museum of Natural History, with its collections and exhibits Kim Evans, of natural history specimens, primarily insects, birds, and mammals, David Grinspoon, originally focused on Colorado. Rather quickly it added other disciplines, a Dimitri Klebe, function of collecting or the interests of its visitors. This is how zoology and Steve Lee, earth sciences became Museum core competencies. Space sciences came to Marta Lindsay, be a Museum core competency in a different way. It officially debuted with Dan Neafus, and the hiring of a curator in 1998, followed by a new exhibition, Space Odyssey, Ka Chun Yu which opened in mid-2003. Although this may seem a rather sudden appearance for a new discipline at a century-old museum, space sciences truly entered the scene nearly 50 years earlier in an ordinary room on the Museum’s third floor.

The Planetarium The story of space sciences at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science begins with chapters on its Planetarium and its many transformations.

Creating an Audience for Space Science, 1955–2000 In 1955, with the cooperation of the Denver Astronomical Society, the Museum installed a planetarium inside a room equipped with chairs, a Spitz Model A-1 “star-ball” type projector, and a 20-foot metal fabric dome (Fig. 8.1). Today, this Planetarium would seem tiny, its technology primitive and obtrusive. Planetariums were relatively new to museums then; only one in five visitors had ever seen a planetarium show.1 Director Alfred M. Bailey intended it as a test of public interest in space, hoping that the Planetarium might prove so popular that eventually a larger one would be built in its own wing of the Museum.2 Bailey did not need to wait long for signs of success. By the next year, weekday shows had been added to those on weekends, and the total number of performances was exceeded only by New York’s Hayden Planetarium.3 In 1957 the Russians launched the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik, and the public’s interest in space took off as well.

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The Planetarium was remodeled in 1957 and again in 1958, at which time 55,226 visitors had attended a demonstration. Although admission to the rest of the Museum was free, visitors paid a small fee ($.25 for adults and $.10 for children) to enter the Planetarium, thus beginning the tradition of that venue as a revenue source. This first Planetarium established an important, ongoing relationship between the Museum and the Denver Astronomical Society, whose members erected the Planetarium, maintained the equipment, and delivered programs for several years.

Entrepreneurs, Showmen, and Educators A number of interesting and talented individuals have managed the Planetarium over the years: William R. Van Nattan (1956–1959), Robert E. Samples (1959–1962), Donald Lunetta (1962–1969), Mark B. Peterson (1969–1982), Larry Sessions (1982–1983), Robert Wallace (1984–1993), Don Asquin (1993–1997), Marta Lindsay (as acting manager 1997–2001), Larry Sessions (as acting manager 1982–1983)m and Dan Neafus (2004–present). Typical of many managerial positions in museums, often these managers were called curators, although there were no collections to take care of (“I was curator of two-dimensional dots on the dome?” joked Peterson).4 Nor did they have extensive backgrounds or advanced degrees in any of the space sciences. But all were Figure 8.1. Star machine in the Museum’s original Planetarium on the knowledgeable and committed amateur astronomers and educators. Judging third floor. from their accomplishments, they were creative, energetic individuals, unafraid to take risks in their efforts to push the boundaries of the contem- porary planetarium and its programming. Until 2000 the Museum had a classic, or analog, planetarium in which a large star projector realistically re-created the appearance of the night sky on the dome above. Visitors looked up at the dome while a narrator operated the machine and talked about the constellations projected there. The view was stunning, but the experience was limited by the capabilities of the technology. From the beginning, Planetarium staff invented ways to overcome those limitations to make the shows more realistic and entertaining. In 1960, for example, Lunetta and his staff recorded natural sounds—nocturnal animals of the Sonoran Desert for A Desert Night and

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wind, rockfall, a gurgling stream, and dawn birdsong on Mount Evans for A Mountain Night. They created new shows that changed each month. But only so much could be done with the small Planetarium and a small staff whose responsibilities included giving Museum tours to school groups. Lunetta had a much grander vision and was able to sell it to Museum leadership. In 1965 the Museum began planning a new planetarium, to be located, as Bailey had hoped, in its own wing. In 1968 the Charles C. Gates Plan- etarium was dedicated. It was, according to Peterson, “a quantum leap.”5 The theater consisted of a 50-foot-diameter dome with 236 front-facing seats and a computer-controlled star machine. A 22-inch telescope was mounted on the roof; it contained a television camera, allowing the real sky, in real time, to be projected onto the dome below—a first for any planetarium. (Although a good idea, in reality the telescope proved impractical as it was weather dependent and dimmed by the city’s lights and smog; eventually it was transferred to Jefferson County School District’s Mount Evans Outdoor Education Laboratory near Evergreen, Colorado, where it is still in use.) In a little over a year, annual attendance at the new Gates Planetarium had more than tripled that of the old third-floor facility, an increase from about 30,000 to over 100,000.6 In that first year the Planetarium received national attention when Lunetta and NBC-TV commentator John Palmer broadcast live during the flight of Apollo 8 as it journeyed to the moon. A little more than 10 years later, the Planetarium was renovated again, with seats now in a concentric arrangement and a Minolta star projector that could be lowered out of the way if needed. Again, the system was state of the art. Because technology varied from site to site, shows for big planetariums such as Gates were not typically interchangeable, so each planetarium had to custom-design its own programming. That situation suited the free-spirited Planetarium staff, who then as now delighted in pushing the limits of their own and the equipment’s capabilities. They loved technology and they loved production. Especially during the early days in Gates, they produced just about everything in-house: their own art, photography, special effects, and music (on a synthesizer with the help of the University of Denver). Peterson wanted something to happen every 10 seconds in a show, and that required a lot of equipment. At one point the Planetarium had a bank of 72 slide projectors and more than 100 other devices for special effects. Often staff designed and built their own equipment or modified existing devices. According to current Planetarium manager Dan Neafus, even today staff often welcome a new piece of equipment by opening it to see what is inside and what might be improved, ignoring the warning “Warranty voided if seal is broken.”7 Planetarium staff also ran their own gift shop and admissions, created their own lobby exhibits, and handled most of their own marketing. One consequence was that the Planetarium became somewhat insular, thought of by both Planetarium and Museum staff as quite separate from the rest

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of the Museum. At times this feeling was exaggerated into an “us vs. them” attitude, with the perception that the Planetarium was underappreciated, underfunded, and undersupported. This attitude culminated in a confrontation between Peterson and Museum Director Roy Coy in 1971. Because funding for the Planetarium had diminished, Peterson felt he had to run a show developed by an outside production company. Right up to the preview night for media and VIPs, techni- cians had trouble getting the program to work on the Museum’s system. That night it apparently did not work well, and Coy stopped the show, cleared out the audience, and fired Peterson on the spot. Persuaded by Peterson’s protests, the trustees soon reversed the situation, firing Coy and rehiring Peterson. Gates staff produced excellent programs: in 1977 The Last Question, based on an Isaac Asimov short story and narrated by Leonard Nimoy; Vision Beyond Time, narrated by Orson Wells; and UFOs: Strangers in the Night?, which was distributed to 40 planetariums in the United States and Canada. In 1984, staff presented Zap, a “live” show featuring educational demonstra- Figure 8.2. A young participant dons tions using a large high-voltage Tesla coil which produced lightning-like protective glasses to view a solar electrical discharges. eclipse at a Museum-sponsored event. In 1987 Stars of the Pharaohs was created in support of the Ramses II exhibition; others include Aztec Skywatchers and Dinosaurs. Where in the Universe is Carmen Sandiego was a collaborative program that had actors interacting with animated video characters. The laser and light shows that ran from 1974 to 1998 demonstrated that nontraditional planetarium shows could attract large new audiences and create significant revenue. Other programs produced by Planetarium staff, outside of the planetarium dome, included frequent Star Parties during which telescopes lined the Museum’s west patio and staff and volunteers helped the large crowds understand what they were seeing (Fig. 8.2). Overnight star gazing and campouts at the Jefferson County Outdoor Education Laboratory observatory were also very popular. In 1986 thousands came every night for two weeks to view Halley’s Comet. In 1997, when NASA’s Pathfinder mission landed the first rover on Mars, the Museum threw open its doors, inviting the public to a live broadcast of the landing and to participate in activities indoors and out. The media also loved the event, even pestering Planetarium manager Don Asquin at his home for more information. Clearly, the success of the Planetarium’s programs showed that the public was intrigued by the science of space and the Museum was the place to learn about it.

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Review and Renewal, 1997–2003 In 1997 the Museum established the DMNH Core Competency Audit Committee to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each core competency and to make recommendations for improvement. The space sciences audit, consisting of reports by internal teams and outside experts, was submitted in the summer of 1997. It focused almost exclusively on the Planetarium, since it and associ- ated educational programming were, at that time, the extent of space sciences at the Museum. All evaluators noted that the Planetarium desperately needed renovation. The aging facility and equipment, and therefore often the programs, did not meet the Museum’s high standards. This was the report’s major conclusion; it did not push to further develop a core competency. In fact, both outside evaluators were somewhat skeptical of committing to a “full, research oriented branch to the ‘Space Science Department’”8 or of extending space sciences outside the Planetarium at all (“Space science is something I associ- ate with science centers, not a natural history museum.”).9 Museum leadership thought otherwise. It had determined that a science exhibition would be its next step and was at the same time quietly contemplating a name Figure 8.3. Museum logo adopted in change. That change took place in 2000, when the Denver Museum of Natural 2000. History became the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, with a new logo that combined the shape of a nautilus and a galaxy (Fig. 8.3). The Museum had also hired BBC Research & Consulting to market test topics for a major new permanent exhibition. The consultants’ report, submitted on November 8, 1996, revealed that of the many topics suggested, space received the greatest amount of interest among potential audiences.10 A funding report submitted around the same time determined that it would be possible to raise up to $15 million for a “cosmos” exhibition,11 and in 1997 the Museum agreed to the cosmos concept. In addition, in 1998 the Museum took the first step toward establishing a space sciences core competency with the hiring of its first curator of space sciences, Laura Danly, in a joint appointment with the University of Denver. In 2001, Steven Lee became the Museum’s second space sciences curator. Both he and Danly guided the scientific content of what would become the Space Odyssey exhibition. In 1998 a cross-divisional Museum team began a project description for what was then called the Space Science Experience: a 25,000-square-foot exhibition on three levels and a renovated planetarium. In December 1998 the Gates Family Foundation pledged funding for a new planetarium. Planning for the exhibition and planetarium proceeded separately over the next five years. Howard Cook, multimedia and print graphics manager, assumed leadership of planetarium planning. He and his team visited planetariums around the world, investigating possibilities for the new Gates Planetarium. Early testing for the exhibition showed that potential audiences wanted to

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An Ingenious Remodel

From the beginning, a renovated planetarium was part of the space science initiative; in 1998 the Gates Family Foundation pledged its funding and planning began. In 1998 and 1999 various Museum teams visited planetariums throughout this country and in Japan. Primarily they went to see the technology, but as they sat through countless demonstrations, they were often most impressed by the planetarium seats. They especially enjoyed their experiences when the seating was raked (inclined for better sight lines), the chairs reclined only slightly, and all faced the same direction. This was not the arrangement in the existing Gates Planetarium, where seating was horizontal and concentric, with center seats tilted quite far back to enable views of the dome above but also sometimes promoting Figure 8.4. A dump truck hauls debris from a dismantled discomfort or sleep. The team determined that the new Gates Planetarium in preparation for its renovation, Gates Planetarium would have raked, unidirectional scheduled for 2003. seating, and that the dome itself would be tilted. That arrangement wouldn’t be difficult if the What could be salvaged was donated to several Planetarium was being built from scratch, but in this case, regional observatories or planetariums, and the art and the trick was to fit a larger, tilted dome and slanted flooring photography supplies were sent to the Denver School of the into an existing building without enlarging the footprint or Arts. The rest was recycled. disturbing the surrounding structures: the North American Once the structure was empty, the heavy machinery Wildlife Hall encircling the Planetarium on the second floor moved in: backhoes to excavate down some eight feet, and Botswana Africa Hall sitting above it on the third. dump trucks to haul away the debris, and pumper trucks to After architects worked out this complicated opportu- mix concrete in situ (Figs. 8.4, 8.5). Installation of the dome nity, the Planetarium closed in 2000 and staff spent a year itself depended more on human artistry and ingenuity than removing its insides until only the structural framework of supporting columns remained. The Minolta star projector Figure 8.5. The structural framework of the Planetarium with the floor excavated to make room for the new tilted was dismantled, the seating was torn out, and more than dome and raked seating. 100 projectors were removed from the perimeter.

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on the power of machines. Workers first erected a network of metal pipes as a framework for the “fabric” of the dome. This “fabric” consists of hundreds of table-sized perforated metal panels. Each was cut, trimmed, and curved in just the right configuration to be placed, one by one, onto the giant framework above (Fig. 8.6). When completed, the new Charles C. Gates Planetarium had a 56-foot dome angled at 25 degrees and would seat 129 visitors, including four wheelchair spaces. It included a spacious and sophisticated computer operations station and a theatrical stage to accommodate Figure 8.6. Workers attaching panels to the curved dome of the lectures and performances (Fig 8.7). Thanks to Planetarium. the architecture as well as the digital technology, the visitor experience in the new Gates Planetarium is much more immersive, dynamic, Figure 8.7. Planetarium Manager Dan Neafus in the completely renovated Charles C. Gates Planetarium, which opened in June large, and varied than before—and the seats 2003. are comfortable!

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“feel what it was like to be in space.” This desire guided the choice of the Planetarium’s technology and design. Planners opted for a digital projection system rather than the classic star projector because digital technology could better create the illusion of moving through space and was more versatile overall. Seating would be arranged auditorium style so that the entire audience would look in the same direction and its experience could be more carefully controlled. Seats would not recline. Instead, the dome would be tilted, offering a more immersive experience to a more upright and comfortable audience. Such digital technology was new at the time. The American Museum of Natural History had just installed digital equipment in its planetarium, and Cook and others visited the site several times. Cook was a strong-willed, visionary, and rather competitive person; he was determined to outdo the American Museum with an even newer, more powerful system. So the Museum purchased an SGI Onyx supercomputer and 11 video projectors—the Rolls Royce of planetarium hardware. Cook was intent on developing a new show to open the new Planetarium. It was to be as bold and magical as the technology. For a variety of reasons (including that the project was over budget and behind schedule), a board committee scrapped the new show just a month or so before opening. Staff regrouped and accom- plished the unimaginable: using unfamiliar and unproven technology, they created a completely new show in less than a month. And so the new Charles C. Gates Planetarium opened on June 13, 2003, to great acclaim with a tour through the solar system: Cosmic Journey. The show, a surprise hit, has been revamped four times and remains one of the most popular shows to have appeared in the new Gates Planetarium.

Space Odyssey The planning, construction, and operation of the Charles C. Gates Planetar- ium did not always proceed smoothly, but it was nowhere near as fraught as the process that produced the Space Odyssey exhibition. But like that of the Planetarium, the story of Space Odyssey had a happy ending.

A Messy Process, 1996–2003 Along with the Planetarium, Space Odyssey opened to the public on June 13, 2003. This exhibition, which began as the ill-defined “cosmos” exhibition in 1996 and took seven years to plan and complete, emerged a remarkable accomplishment from a lengthy, messy, wasteful, and contentious process. In 2004 it won the prestigious Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Award for Visitor Experience given by the Association of Science-Technology Centers. Inter- nally it was a winner in the “lessons learned” category as an example of just about everything not to do when planning an exhibition. It began with

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vague expectations and no clear vision. Throughout the process senior staff, Figure 8.8. A panoramic view of Space Odyssey. project managers, planning teams, and consultants changed many times, and each change of personnel caused a redirection of the vision. Major changes occurred at least five times. Along the way the project’s location and architecture were revised to include renovation of the Museum’s west side on all three floors and the roof, in addition to the Planetarium and the exhibition. The new west atria and Sky Terrace consumed at least half the $56 million project funding, leaving around $6.5 or $7 million for the exhibition (half the amount originally planned). This meant the exhibition’s footprint had to shrink as well—to 13,000 square feet, down from an original 25,000.

With a Successful Result In late 2000 the wayward project was finally put on course when the group nicknamed “the Quartet” was authorized as the official client representa- tive for Space Odyssey and it began concept development with the design firm Delphi Productions of Alameda, California. The Quartet consisted of Jodi Schoemer, project manager; Laura Danly and later Steve Lee, project scientist; Eddie Goldstein, space science educator; and Frances Kruger, lead interpretive developer. The Quartet gave the project a clear vision, a distinct direction, and a transparent process; largely because of the Quartet’s work, Space Odyssey turned out to be exciting and popular. After years of tumult, thanks to the Quartet the project remained true to the wishes expressed in focus groups and surveys from years before: that the exhibition be fresh, dynamic, personal, interactive—and amazing. Space Odyssey can be thought of as a stage for the performance of space science education. It consists of a nonlinear arrangement of some 30 programs and demonstrations, flexible performance stages, and other

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multiuse spaces (Fig. 8.8). Visitors choose their own path through the exhi- Figure 8.9. An “astronaut” interacts with visitors through the glass of the Mars bition, participating in activities or experiments that are interactive, open diorama. ended, and designed to promote self-discovery. One aspect of the exhibition is reminiscent of the more traditional offerings of a natural history museum: the Mars diorama, a canyon landscape inspired by high-resolution spacecraft images of Candor Chasma, a real site in Valles Marineris (the “Grand Canyon of Mars”). But this diorama is not at all traditional: intended to portray the first human base station on the Red Planet, “astronauts” step into the diorama several times daily, conducting experiments and conversing with visitors through the picture windows of this “visitor center on Mars” (Fig. 8.9). Visitors may also talk with the Museum Galaxy Guides, volunteers who give demonstrations and programs and facilitate interactive exhibits (Fig. 8.10). Museum Galaxy Guides also bring portable interactive props (cart-based programs) onto the exhibition floor and use laptop computers to access information to customize visitors’ experiences. These volunteers receive intensive training initially and continuing

Figure 8.10. Museum Galaxy Guides educational opportunities thereafter. They are briefed before each shift by interact one on one with visitors. space sciences staff or outside experts (Fig. 8.11), and a web-based Galaxy Guide Portal, which contains up-to-date scientific and logistical information,

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is available for reference (Fig. 8.12). Other volunteers and staff work in the Figure 8.11. Curator of Planetary Space Sciences Newsroom monitoring news of discoveries or events each Science Steve Lee provides the latest space science news to Museum Galaxy day and transmitting this new information to the Museum Galaxy Guides Guides before their shifts as facilitators or to media screens on the floor. Exhibit components themselves are flex- in Space Odyssey begin. ible and readily changed. By design, nearly all programs and activities have been modified or replaced since Space Odyssey opened, and the content in hundreds, maybe even thousands, of digital programs has been revised. One of the biggest changes was the addition in 2010 of Science on a Sphere, thanks to a multiyear NASA grant. Because of these efforts, Space Odyssey continues to be as relevant to the Museum’s visitors today as when it opened in 2003, offering accurate, important, and current space sciences information in compelling and memorable formats. Each visit to the exhibition provides new and different experiences from the realm of space exploration, and visitors often come back. In fact, a recent survey revealed that a remarkable 70 percent of those visiting Space Odyssey are repeat visitors.

A Space Sciences Core Competency Figure 8.12. The web portal through which the Museum Galaxy Guides keep abreast Throughout the years, the popularity of the Planetarium had demonstrated of the latest information in the space the public’s interest in space and that the community considers the Museum sciences. the place to learn about space. Audience testing prior to Space Odyssey con- firmed these impressions. The renovated Planetarium and the Space Odyssey exhibition were necessary responses to the public’s interest. A third response seemed obvious: to establish a space sciences core competency with a department of curators and scientists actively engaged in space science research and devoted to engaging the public in the ongoing exploration of space.

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Space Sciences Newsroom

From the beginning, everyone who ever had a vision for the spontaneous and engaging conversations with Museum Space Odyssey project agreed: the information provided to visitors. Information is updated frequently, sometimes the public must be up to date, scientifically accurate, and hourly, and sometimes even minute by minute. When events visually compelling. This is notoriously involved and difficult warrant, the Museum has responded very quickly, for to do, as the Museum discovered in earlier exhibitions. example in March 2011 when a massive earthquake and the But Laura Danly, curator of space sciences, found the way resulting tsunami devastated Japan. Within 15 minutes of during the planning stages with the creation of the Space the occurrence, pictures and movies appeared on the portal Sciences Newsroom. and screens in the exhibition, and they were continuously The newsroom is a physical location, a place inside updated all day. Museum Galaxy Guides stationed at their the Museum with the equipment and resources for volun- laptops and at the Science on a Sphere (which featured teers and staff to research, a visualization of global prepare, and deliver wave heights related to a up-to-date astronomy and tsunami) conversed with space science content to visitors about the event. the floor of Space Odyssey Geologist Bob Raynolds (Fig. 8.13). The newsroom also spent the day in Space team includes Collections Odyssey explaining the Manager Marta Lindsay, disturbances to Earth’s crust Content Specialist Dimitri that can create tsunamis. Klebe, and Newsroom Content evolved over Manager Kim Evans. In the following weeks, and addition, the current space extensive programs are still sciences curators (Lee and Figure 8.13. The Space Sciences Newsroom, where presented frequently at the volunteers Fred Spafford and Mike Snodgrass research Yu) advise, review content, astronomy and space science content for a presentation Science on a Sphere. and train volunteers and in Space Odyssey. Newsroom staff and staff as needed. The team volunteers also support works together with Department of Space volunteers to monitor the news for topics ranging from Sciences programs such as curator lectures, 60 Minutes in spaceflight missions and science discoveries to astrobiology Space, and large public space events such as the Spirit and and astrophysics to the importance of infrared light in Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover landings, space shuttle the study of astronomy. This content is made available launches, lunar and solar eclipses, and the 40th anniversary to the Museum Galaxy Guides via the Galaxy Guide web of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Staff and volunteers produce portal or as high-resolution images, movies, animations, digital multimedia products and offer technical support and presentations for delivery using the display screens such as video camera operation. The newsroom team also and interactives in Space Odyssey. The challenge for the responds to letters, e-mails, and phone calls from Museum newsroom team is to provide the Museum Galaxy Guides visitors, the public, and local news media interested in the with the resources and content they need to provide space sciences.

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Science on a Sphere

The sphere may show Earth’s night lights and air-traffic patterns, Venus’s thick clouds, dust storms on Mars, complex patterns of swirling clouds on Jupiter and Saturn, or the migration patterns of sea turtles and birds on Earth (Fig. 8.15). The Museum Galaxy Guides have as much fun as the visitors: “I come here every week, and each time it’s different. We come here to play. Can you believe it?” said one. Science on a Sphere comes courtesy of a generous grant from NASA that began in mid-2009; this Museum- NASA partnership is intended to boost the public’s knowledge of planetary and climate science and to build awareness of NASA’s space sciences missions. The Figure 8.14. Science on a Sphere, a six-foot-diameter Museum’s staff will use the sphere to experiment with hollow globe hovering in the middle of Space Odyssey. different approaches to interpreting planetary and climate By means of computers and high-resolution video projectors, conditions on any spherical object, such as science, such as developing software and hardware allowing a planet, can be realistically visualized on this globe. visitors to control the sphere themselves and creating visualizations based on the research of the Museum’s space scientists. The biggest addition to Space Odyssey since its opening is a large, brightly lit sphere hovering near the middle of the exhibition (Fig. 8.14). Although the sphere seems to revolve, that is an illusion created by four video projectors synchro- nized by a computer. This system was invented by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Boulder, Colorado, who wanted to find a way to realistically display information about spherical objects. Traditionally, images or maps of Earth or other planets have been displayed on flat surfaces, but Science on a Sphere provides a whole new perspective—more complex, compelling, and realistic. Science on a Sphere is mostly facilitated by Museum Figure 8.15. A visiting scientist discusses a surface Galaxy Guides. They choose from an extensive library of temperature data set during a presentation on global high-resolution data sets provided by NASA and NOAA climate change. Science on a Sphere has become a that have been developed for the sphere. The system can prominent teaching and presentation tool for audiences in Space Odyssey. visualize any spherical object for which mapped data exist.

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The Department of Space Sciences The Museum took that step in 1998 when it hired Laura Danly, an expert in space-based ultraviolet astronomy and galactic evolution, as its first curator of space sciences. Until she left the Museum in 2003, Danly guided the scientific content of Space Odyssey. She was adamant that exhibits and information be kept current and timely. The newsroom was her brainchild, providing the means to continuously update and develop new content for use in Space Odyssey. With co-authors Leonard David and Donald Gold- smith, Danly wrote Chaos to Cosmos: A Space Odyssey, which the Museum published in 2003 to coincide with the opening of the exhibition. Steve Lee came onboard in 2001 as curator of planetary science in the midst of Space Odyssey planning. He was both inspiration and scientific advisor for the popular Mars diorama as well as for the Museum’s many Mars-related public events. His research focuses on the interaction between the surface and atmosphere of Mars, determined primarily by mapping the patterns of windblown dust deposits across the planet. In 1998 space sciences was included within the Department of Earth Science, but in 2001 space sciences became a separate department. Lee has chaired the department since 2003. Since then, it includes three other PhD space scientists: David Grinspoon (curator of astrobiology; departed the Museum on late-2013), Ka Chun Yu (curator of space science), and Dimitri Klebe (space sciences content specialist). Yu studies effective ways to visualize astronomical data sets in various settings and also works on developing software tools for efficiently creating scientific visualizations. Grinspoon is interested in the cosmic context for life; he studies the climate history of planets and the factors that influence the origin and evolution of life on Earth and elsewhere. And Klebe is an astrophysicist whose specialty is infrared instrumentation. He has an active research career in instrumentation and oversees content in Space Odyssey, reviewing newsroom information for accuracy and relevance and developing interactive components for the exhibition.

The Collection The department does not manage a collection in the traditional sense. The collection is mostly digital, consisting of tens of thousands of images, movies, animations, and videotapes; it is a library of all the important events in space sciences from the early 1990s to today. Collection Manager Marta Lindsay also manages a physical collection of about 28 scientific instruments that have been used by Museum staff members, were part of crucial experiments involving key scientists, or are excellent type-examples of par- ticular instruments. The collection is not a research collection per se; rather, it can help educate the public about the fundamental role such instruments have played in the advancement of technology and our knowledge of the natural sciences. One such instrument is the original chemical glassware

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used in the now famous Miller-Urey experiments on the synthesis of organic life-forming molecules from the gases and compounds thought to have been present in early Earth’s atmosphere. Micro- scopes (Fig. 8.16), and scales for weighing gold. The object in the collection most relevant to space sciences is a habitat for two spiders housed for several months aboard the International Space Station in 2008 and 2009 and transported to and from orbit aboard two space shuttle missions so scientists could study their activities in space.

Figure 8.16. Historic microscopes used Other space sciences–related objects (astronaut space suits, for example) are in the 19th and early 20th centuries by managed in the education collection. An extensive collection of meteorites is scientists in various fields. kept in the Department of Earth Sciences. Much of this large collection was acquired during the 1920s and 1930s when the Museum had a Department of Meteorites and a curator of meteorites (Harvey Nininger) who acquired specimens through purchases, donations, exchanges, and discoveries of meteorite falls.

Major Accomplishments The mission of the Department of Space Sciences “is to educate Museum visitors and our local community with accurate and scientifically sound information regarding space sciences. We accomplish this by communicating up-to-date space sciences information through the Space Odyssey exhibition and public programming.” And, it might be added, through Planetarium programming. Although today the Planetarium is administered by the Depart- ment of Digital Media, not by Space Sciences, it is clearly an extension of this core competency and both its technology and programming are strengthened by the expertise and involvement of Space Sciences staff. Thus the major accomplishments of Space Sciences lie in its extensive public programming.

The Charles C. Gates Planetarium, Present and Future The opening of the new Planetarium in 2003 did not end its development. Soon it became clear that the SGI computer and complex projection system were inefficient and the costs of upkeep unsustainable. Each year, for example, lamps for the projectors alone cost $120,000. In 2005 the SGI supercomputer was replaced with a more flexible and sustainable system. In 2006, primarily funded through grants from the National Science Foundation and NASA, the Museum produced the ambitious Black Holes, narrated by Liam Neeson. This show remains state of the art and continues to be shown in Denver and at 200 venues around the world. In 2007 the Planetarium system was once again updated with more reliable and efficient

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technology. Neafus plans another update in 2013 for, as he says, “system Figure 8.17. Geologist Bob Raynolds presents a Digital Earth program in hardware gets faster, better, and cheaper each year.” Gates Planetarium. Regardless of the hardware or its sophistication, the Planetarium’s programmers are always pushing its limits. The SGI computer, for example, could not by itself produce a digital simulation of the universe with live navi- gation. The task of creating the software to do so fell to a team that included staff hired in 2001: developer Nigel Jenkins and scientific and visualization interpreter and developer Ka Chun Yu. Working with Neafus, the team developed the Cosmic Atlas, software robust enough to create the Planetarium’s first show, Cosmic Journey. Although the SGI computer was eventually retired, parts of the Cosmic Atlas code live on in the successor visualization software. Today Neafus considers modern digital planetariums as domed theaters, versatile performance and program spaces that include but go beyond the space sciences and the offerings of more traditional planetariums. Yu, an astrophysicist by training, decided to continue his pioneering work in scientific visualization and was promoted to curator of space sciences in 2004. In partnership with Neafus, Yu and other programming staff challenge themselves to create original and exciting dome presentations that can be multidisciplinary and multimedia. Highly successful examples of this programming are live musical concerts; the 2004 The Whole Picture: Around the World in 360 Degrees, featuring the panoramic photography of Greg Downing; and the Digital Earth series in which Yu and geologist Bob Raynolds explore Earth from the vantage point of astronauts in space (Fig. 8.17). Astronaut Bruce McCandless II has also appeared in Gates Planetarium numerous times, describing his rides into orbit aboard the space shuttle from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, helping audiences experience the scene as if looking out the shuttle’s windows.

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Music in the Dome Historically, planetariums have been places where audio and visuals were mixed together to create new multimedia experiences. Such experiments date as far back as the late 1950s, but people probably best remember laser music shows, which got their start in the early 1970s and were a mainstay at the original Gates Planetarium. With the impressive display capabilities of modern digital domes, it is thus not surprising that the new Planetarium programming team has done its share of experimentation. In July 2003, within a month of its reopening, Gates Planetarium hosted Celestial Sounds with the Musica Sacra Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Michael Shasberger. The 17-piece chamber group squeezed onto the stage and gave performances of several pieces, including Mozart’s Symphony no. 41 in C Major, nicknamed “the Jupiter symphony,” accompanied by Cosmic Atlas visuals with Ka Chun Yu at the dome controls. The success of this program resulted in the follow-up Voices from the Silence choral Figure 8.18. Violinist and composer Kenji Williams performing in Gates performances in September 2003, also lead by Shasberger. Planetarium during a Gaia Journeys Violinist, musician, and video artist Kenji Williams collaborated concert in February 2007. with Yu to create a series of Gaia Journeys concerts in February 2007. The concerts intended to suggest an astronaut’s experience seeing the startling beauty of Earth from space. Williams worked with Yu for several months to develop a visual program consisting of flight sequences through the digital universe, including low orbital passes around the Earth and landings on its surface to explore panoramic photography of landscapes from around the world (Fig. 8.18). Through a long-standing collaboration with Trace Reddell, a media professor at the University of Denver, Neafus and Yu have hosted several other live musical acts in the dome. These include French electronic rock pioneer Richard Pinhas (June 2007) and Berlin-based electronic musical act Monolake/Robert Henke (September 2010). Unlike the tightly scripted Gaia Journeys shows, the visuals for these shows were much more free-form and improvised. The most recent musical events in the dome have been the Life Out There concerts, which have involved Curator of Astrobiology David Grinspoon and his House Band to the Universe, a group of musicians formed specifically for the shows.Life Out There first appeared in the premier Science Lounge adult program in February 2010. The concerts mixed science content with live jams from the band, visuals of live flight through the Figure 8.19. David Grinspoon and universe by Yu, and movie clips. Each show consisted of four musical acts. his House Band to the Universe While the House Band to the Universe played, dome visuals portrayed the perform in Gates Planetarium against a background of startling visuals. conditions that make life possible in the cosmos (Fig. 8.19). In the interludes between the movements, the visuals would again appear on the dome and Grinspoon would explain to the audience what they had witnessed. The concerts were successful enough that they later appeared as a standalone series in July 2011 and a DVD in April 2012.

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In 2005 Yu partnered with Metropolitan State College of Denver on the Astronomy Learning in Immersive Virtual Environments (ALIVE) research project, funded by the National Science Foundation. Students in freshman astronomy classes were brought to the dome, and their learning was measured in seven different subject categories. Early data analysis finds that in at least half of these categories, students exposed to the dome experience have significant learning gains over students in control groups. Yu has also surveyed participants in various dome programs to learn the impact of their experience. He has found that they are able to remember even small details, sometimes months after their experience. They describe the dome presentations as compelling because they are immersed in imagery on a huge scale. They enjoy the feeling of flying through space and passing through multiple scales, for example from a global view of Earth from space down to a specific hydrological or geological feature. Thus they not only see different levels of detail, they also see these details in context and in relationships to each other. Such a perspective can be essential for understanding how Earth’s biological and physical systems interact and interrelate. In 2010 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funded the Worldviews Network, a national effort by scientists and educators to use immersive digital planetariums to increase the public’s awareness of Earth systems and science, as well as climatic and ecological literacy. Yu is a coinvestigator for this collaboration of eight partner planetariums and science institutions. Each organization works with external organizations to create a presentation and a community dialogue on a topic of regional importance to its audience. In May 2011 Yu and Raynolds worked with the Colorado Foundation for Water Education to create a dialogue on water issues in the West, which in addition to demonstrating the water challenges faced by communities worldwide also highlighted possible solutions and ways the local Museum audience could become engaged.

Public Events Big events occur in the space sciences more regularly, or at least more regularly in the interested public’s eye, than in other core competencies. The Museum has always helped the public participate in and understand these events, beginning with Planetarium-sponsored viewings of comets, meteor showers, or solar eclipses. In more recent years, the Museum’s involvement in these events has grown. On Saturday, February 1, 2003, four months before the opening of Space Odyssey, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry, resulting in the death of all seven crew members. Upon hearing the news, Lee hurried to the Museum where he could monitor live NASA coverage of the disaster and interpret the information for Museum visitors and the Denver TV stations that looked to the Museum as the source for news. Three days later the Museum held a memorial service for the astronauts

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in Ricketson Auditorium, drawing several hundred people from Front Range Figure 8.20. In December 2005 Dave Baysinger and Steve Lee traveled to communities. Following the disaster, NASA suspended manned spaceflights NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to for several years while they studied its causes. In 2005 NASA awarded the interview NASA personnel for the Museum a grant to produce a DVD, Space Shuttle: Return to Flight. Lee and Space Shuttle: Return to Flight video. Museum videographer Dave Baysinger traveled to NASA’s Kennedy Space Here, in the Orbiter Processing Facility, Lee stands near the landing gear of Center (Florida) (Fig. 8.20), Johnson Space Center (Texas), the John C. space shuttle Atlantis as it is readied for Stennis Space Center (Mississippi), and Lockheed Martin’s Michoud Assembly its next flight. Facility (Louisiana) to interview engineers, rocket builders, mission managers, flight controllers, astronauts, and many others involved in the space shuttle program. The result was an hour-long program used by museums, planetariums, science centers, and schools prior to the 2006 launch of the second space shuttle flight after theColumbia accident. Leading up to that launch, the Museum distributed more than 4,000 copies of the video across the world, and an estimated 250,000 people viewed the program. In January 2004 the two Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed on Mars. The Museum was prepared for these highly anticipated missions and hosted two late-night public events attended by approximately 2,400 people. Participants watched live NASA TV coverage from mission control accompanied by commentary from Lee and other experts. The events were hosted in the Phipps IMAX Theater and broadcast to monitors set up in Rick- etson Auditorium, Space Odyssey, the Planetarium, and throughout the west atrium. At that time, the rovers were planned to have a life span of 90 days, so for three months, Lee gave two live briefings per day, seven days a week,

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to Museum visitors and volunteers. Then, with the rovers still going strong, Lee transitioned to a written update three times a week, and then once a week. Now, nearly a decade later, Opportunity is still roving Mars and regular status updates are still available in Space Odyssey. Other large public events, conducted in similar fashion, have been the Cassini space probe’s arrival at Saturn in 2004, the Deep Impact probe’s collision with a comet in 2005, the Phoenix spacecraft’s Mars landing in 2008, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 2009, the final launch and landing of the space shuttle in 2011, and the landing of the Curiosity Mars rover in 2012 (drawing a capacity crowd of 1400). Over the years these large public space events, as well as the availability of up-to-the-minute updates in Space Odyssey, have made the Museum the place to be for many in the local community interested in space exploration and space science.

Programs in Space Science In addition to the dramatic space events, their accompanying programs, and the abundant programming daily in Space Odyssey, many other space-related programs occur weekly, if not daily, throughout the Museum. While the Planetarium was closed for construction and Space Odyssey was being developed, Museum educators filled the void with programs for all audiences. The Colorado Department of Education contrib- uted $500,000 for professional development in space science for more than 220 teachers and offered them free field trips when Space Odyssey opened. Children attend classes in Figure 8.21. These participants in a children’s workshop share the excitement of space travel as they launch the rockets they have made. the El Pomar Space Education Center or participate in summer workshops to learn about the night sky or to design, create, and launch their own rockets (Fig. 8.21). Educators take a digital portable planetarium to school assemblies or community centers. In 2001 a citizen science effort included a system of All-Sky cameras, many mounted on the rooftops of schools around the state and one atop the Museum. Their purpose was to record the appearance of bright fireballs in the night sky so that the trajectories of meteorites might be determined and the objects perhaps found. In addition to locating fresh meteorite falls, an All-Sky camera can provide valuable information about the kind of meteors one might see on any clear night and also about annual meteor showers. The program is ongoing, now under the guidance of Chris Peterson of Cloudbait Observatory.

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A distance-learning program, Scientists in Action, uses videocon- Figure 8.22. Space shuttle Atlantis sits on the pad, ready for its May 11, ferencing equipment that allows fourth through eighth grade students to 2009, launch to repair the Hubble interact live with Museum scientists at work in the field or the lab. Two Space Telescope. Several members exciting programs have involved space science. During the first, in May of the Department of Space Sciences 2009, Lee hosted a broadcast from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center during a were on hand for a Scientists in Action program, broadcast from NASA’s shuttle launch to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Students could query Kennedy Space Center on launch day. the scientists (Dennis Ebbets and Lee), an engineer (James Crocker), and an astronaut (Bruce McCandless II), all of whom had worked on or with Hubble. As students watched the launch live, McCandless provided commentary on what the crew inside the shuttle was feeling and doing as the rocket roared into orbit (Figs. 8.22, 8.23). In April 2010 Museum astrobiologist Grinspoon and Lockheed engineer Stuart Spath broadcast live from inside the clean room at Lockheed Martin, a rare opportunity to visit the area where engineers build the spacecraft being sent to explore other planets. During the two days of broadcasting, the Juno and Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft were being assembled in the background as Grinspoon and Spath interacted with students (Fig. 8.24). In May 2010 Lee was joined by Lockheed Martin engineers Olivia Billett and Guy Beutelschies in Lockheed Martin’s clean room to discuss the impending

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Figure 8.23. With the space shuttle Atlantis about to launch from the Kennedy Space Center, space scientists field questions from students across the country during a live broadcast in 2009. From left to right: Steve Lee, James Crocker of Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Bruce McCandless II, retired NASA astronaut, and Dennis Ebbets, astrophysicist with Ball Aerospace & Technologies.

Figure 8.24. Museum astrobiologist David Grinspoon and Lockheed engineer Stuart Spath broadcast live to students in Ricketson Auditorium from inside the clean room at Lockheed Martin during a 2010 Scientists in Action program. During the two days of broadcast, engineers assembled the Juno and Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft in the background as the scientists interacted with students.

landing of the Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity. In the background as they spoke, engineers assembled Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN), a Mars mission planned for a late 2013 launch (Fig. 8.25). Eight hundred students participated in schools and libraries from Alaska to New York and were thrilled to be part of the program. Adults have many opportunities to learn about astronomy, including classes, family campouts at Jefferson County School’s outdoor lab, canoe trips, and for several years in the early 2000s, Stargazers’ Weekends—two days of classes and two nights of stargazing in the dark skies above the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. Scott Carpenter (the second American astronaut to orbit Earth) has lectured and presented a moon rock to the Museum, Sir

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Figure 8.25. Dave Baysinger (left) films Steve Lee (center) and Guy Beutelschies (right) discussing Mars exploration during a Scientists in Action broadcast from within Lockheed Martin’s clean room. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft was being assembled in the background.

Isaac Newton appeared in a Chautauqua-type performance, and historic enactors, portraying luminaries such as Galileo, roam Space Odyssey (Fig. 8.26). In 2001 Danly began the monthly 60 Minutes in Space program in which curators or other experts provide attendees with the very latest information on events or discoveries in space science. The program continues today under the leadership of Lee, with sold-out audiences in Gates Planetarium (Fig. 8.27).

The Future Although one of the youngest of the core competencies, space sciences is well established within the Museum. Its staff actively pursues Figure 8.26. Senior Space Science Educator Eddie Goldstein assumes the significant research, its programs are popular and well attended, and the character and costume of astronomer numbers of Space Odyssey visitors and volunteers are among the highest Galileo during a performance in Space of any permanent exhibition in the Museum. Space sciences is securely Odyssey with Dave Blumenstock. placed within the larger community as well, with active relationships with the media and partnerships with university space science departments and with government and industry organizations such as NASA, NOAA, Lockheed Martin, and United Launch Alliance. This successful present will not likely lead to a complacent future. Throughout its history, those involved with space science have been forward looking, innovative, and risk taking. Director Bailey had his eye to the future when he established that first small Planetarium on the Museum’s third floor. Planetarium staff have never accepted limitations on technology. In the face of skepticism and some criticism, the Museum advanced the tradition of natural history museums when it included space sciences as a core competency and established a

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Figure 8.27. In 2009 four members of the astronaut crew of NASA’s final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope made a surprise visit to a 60 Minutes in Space program. Pictured from right to left are Steve Lee, retired astronaut Bruce McCandless II, mission specialist John M. Grunsfeld, commander Scott D. Altman, pilot Gregory C. Johnson, and mission specialist Michael T. Good.

department of professional space scientists. And the Association of Science- Technology Centers rewarded the innovative and ever-renewing Space Odyssey exhibition for being on the leading edge. Therefore, considering its history, it is a safe bet that the future of space sciences at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science will be as creative and dynamic as its past.

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Endnotes

1 DMNH Annual Report, 1956: 39. 2 DMNH Annual Report, 1955: 70. 3 DMNH Annual Report, 1956: 40. 4 Mark Peterson, oral history, July 8, 2010, DMNS Archives. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Dan Neafus, oral history, April 19, 2011, DMNS Archives. 8 Gutsch, W.A. Jr. No date. Consultant’s Report, DMNH Core Competency: Space Science: 14. 9 Loomis, R.J. September 1997. Report: DMNH Space Science Audit: 3. 10 BBC Research & Consulting. November 8, 1996. “Cosmos” Market Research: Final Report. 11 Marts & Lundy, Inc. November 1996. Funding Feasibility Study.

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