MSC’s Planetarium kicks off new space film

Charles Si

The Macao Science Center’s (MSC) Planetarium kicked off its latest dome show, “Space Next 3D” in a bid to further educate space enthusiasts about the history and future of private space developments.

Holding a license to show the short film for a year, the center chose to launch the film just before the Easter break to provide visitors with options when planning for their weekend entertainment.

According to the center, the Planetarium aims to provide suitable and science-related movies targeting families whose children are interested in science and space.

In the media preview last week, Charles Si, head of Planetarium Department told the press that the short film is intended to inspire “explorers, scientists and dreamers.”

“Space Next 3D” explores the possibilities on the human journey into space.

It conveys how humans have dreamed of soaring into the sky for centuries from the invention of the hot air balloon by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783.

The short film also remembered that Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to orbit the Earth, and American astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first to walk on the moon.

The construction of space stations, such as Mir and the International Space Station, was also explained in the 30-minute film, educating the audience that they allow humans to stay in space for longer periods.

Si informed that two special shows will be screened at the planetarium this summer, most likely, The Little Prince and Aurora.

This year also marks the second year of the planetarium’s “Starry Night” series.

The series includes talks and film screenings that are science and space related.

“We have many kinds of different topics in our planetarium,” said Si.

Compared to last year’s series, Si explained that more speakers will be invited this year.

“We invited more speakers to our planetarium and this year, we have more returning costumers. We now have [around] 60 visitors at each full dome show on the program [compared] to the very beginning, we only had around 5 visitors [every show],” Si said.

Meanwhile, the region’s planetarium is hoping to keep its Guinness World Records award for being the highest resolution 3D planetarium in the world.

According to Si, neighboring regions are striving to acquire better equipment in their planetariums.

However, Si pledged that they would continually maintain quality projection system and maintenance.

“We are going to replace and renew our [graphic] system at the end of this year. We have already used it for eight years so we’re going to renew it [and] hope to bring a better and more technical and full dome effect to visitors,” he concluded.