The Re-making of Mars: Terraforming Table

Wednesday, March 07 10:19 am

This illustration, created by the Museum's in-house Exhibition Department, shows Mars undergoing transformation. © AMNH/C. Engelbert

The scent of evergreens, stones covered in moss, and the hum of rushing water are familiar features in many forests on Earth. But could these also describe a future landscape on Mars?

Once a staple of science fiction, terraforming—or making a planet more like Earth—is now being studied as a real possibility, as scientists research how to apply knowledge of evolution, climate, and technology to re-create the blue planet’s environment on the red planet. Visitors can learn firsthand how humans might make Mars habitable with a custom, multi-user touch table featured in the Museum’s exhibition Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration.

Created by the Museum’s Exhibition Department, the one-of-a-kind table is the latest example of digital elements that help make exhibitions increasingly interactive. “Museum visits are social experiences,” says Hélène Alonso, director of exhibit interactives and media. “With the terraforming table, visitors will be able to team up to achieve Mars’s transformation. They can share a goal, compare strategies, help each other.” At 6 feet wide and 4 feet long, the table is also large enough to allow others to watch the planetary metamorphosis unfold. Read more »

Terraforming by the Numbers

Thursday, November 17 9:30 am

The terraforming table simulates the red planet's transition to a blue planet. © AMNH/C. Engelbert

Long a fixture of science fiction, Mars is now being studied by scientists as a real possibility for manned exploration. And there’s already a body of scientific literature about how humans might “terraform” the red planet, manipulating its climate to resemble Earth’s. The Museum’s new exhibition Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration, opening on Saturday, November 19, introduces visitors to the topic with a multi-touch interactive table that teaches users the steps of terraforming Mars by putting them in the driver’s seat of the transformation. Below, some stats on how the table came into being.

13 team members. Animators, programmers, scientists, writers, media specialists, and interaction and interface designers collaborated to bring Mars to life through the interactive table.

300 days. The Exhibition Department has been reading peer-reviewed articles about terraforming, interviewing NASA experts, and designing the table’s technology for over ten months.

66,000 lines of code. The software was created in-house and by the open-source community.

70 illustrations. As users of the table manipulate the conditions of Mars, they will see a seamless transition in climactic conditions. But behind the scenes, illustrators created 70 frames of illustrations to bring this conversion to life. Read more »