ESA Visitor Center

The European Space Research Institute (ESRIN) of the European Space Agency ESA is located south of Rome in Frascati, Italy. On behalf of Ars Electronica Solutions, Garamantis had the opportunity to participate in the realisation of a new world-class interactive visitor centre. Opened to the public in September 2018 with a festive opening ceremony on the occasion of ESRIN’s 50th anniversary, it offers an immersive insight into modern earth observation.

Three-dimensional globe with projection technology as a unique centerpiece

In several rooms, the exhibition presents different interactive areas on the topic of satellite-based Earth observation. The centrepiece of the exhibition is the “Half-Dome Globe”, a semi-spherical object with a diameter of almost 2 metres projecting into the room, onto which the image of an entire hemisphere with geospheric data is projected at 4 K. It shows selected details illustrating natural processes and their impact on the Earth. The demi-globe is controlled by a crystal ball designed by Ars Electronica Solutions and equipped with special touch-screen interfaces running around its circumference. Visitors can navigate either through the spheres or through time. This depends on the themes they select and the direction in which they turn the globe.

A prototype of the Half Dome Globe projection was previously built and tested in Berlin. This enabled the local implementation and roll-out of this unique installation in a very short time.

Interactive control room with multitouch table and screen wall

In the “Control Room”, visitors are transported into the realm of satellites: from the planning process to launch and operation, all current ESA missions are shown on a multi-touch table and a number of connected presentation screens. A three-dimensional model of a satellite is used to illustrate technical details and new and innovative inventions, and even a complete satellite launch and satellite location in space can be simulated.

Designed in large part by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the News Room explains what kind of data ESA collects and how it can be used by scientists around the world. The room uses a haptic elevation model onto which data on temperature, tectonics, radiation, etc. are projected. Several touchscreens show clips from news footage of earthquakes, floods, melting glaciers and the like, along with the corresponding data sets.

Central exhibition control and content management

A special exhibition control system allows the presenter to activate the various installations and light and sound features at will, for example using a tablet PC. In addition, all data can be easily and flexibly managed using a web-based CMS.

Although Garamantis has worked with Ars Electronica on a number of projects for ESA over the past few years, this project was a particularly exciting challenge. This was because of the size of the exhibition, the number of interactive installations and the number of people involved.