Beyond Planet Earth

On view September 21, 2019 - January 12, 2020

Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org), in collaboration with MadaTech: The Israel National Museum of Science, Technology & Space, Haifa, Israel.

Exhibition Sections

Introduction
The exhibition opens with a retrospective of historic piloted and unpiloted space missions: Sputnik1, the first manmade satellite; the Vostok 1 space capsule that boosted Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, into orbit; the Hubble Space Telescope; and a Mars Exploration Rover. Authentic equipment and artifacts on display include a Soviet cosmonaut glove and a Goodyear Lunar Spring Tire.

Solar System Theater
A video presentation introduces visitors to future manned and unmanned space missions to Mars, Jupiter’s moon Europa, and beyond.

Returning to the Moon
NASA and other space agencies have identified Shackleton Crater, near the moon’s South Pole, as a promising site for a lunar base because it offers access to resources such as water-ice and near-constant sunlight to generate electricity. Along with a scale model of a habitat that could house four astronauts, this section of the exhibition features models of a space elevator that could be used to transport mined materials and a liquid mirror telescope on the moon’s surface. 

Exploring Asteroids
This section features a re-creation of the Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft that rendezvoused with near-Earth asteroid Itokawa in 2005 to collect samples. Obtaining pristine samples for study does not only help scientists better understand the formation of the solar system, it may reveal the presence of valuable metals. Iron meteorites are 99 percent metal alloy and—like some asteroids—could be mined for valuable materials. Asteroids are also a constant threat to life on Earth: NASA has identified more than 1,200 asteroids larger than 500 feet whose orbit comes within 5 million miles of Earth’s. A touch-screen interactive exhibit explores plausible scenarios for deflecting a “doomsday” asteroid.

Voyaging to Mars
No other planet in our solar system is more likely to harbor life than Mars, the most tempting destination for exploration. Visitors will see a full-scale model of the 9-foot-long Mars Science Laboratory Rover, called Curiosity, which launched on November 26, 2011 to search for evidence of life on Mars. Sending humans to the red planet could be the next step, and miniature models in this section show how astronauts might eat, sleep, and exercise during the months-long journey to Mars aboard Nautilus-X, a spaceship designed by NASA engineers. Not everyone is suited for the trip, and visitors can take a personality test to see how they would fare.

An interactive fly-over simulation, called the Mars Explorer console, gives visitors a sense of what it might be like to explore the Martian landscape. Powered by Uniview software and based on the Digital Universe, a 3D map of the known universe assembled from astronomical data sources that include NASA, the Mars Explorer console allows visitors to zoom in on locations such as the Gale Crater, the landing spot for the Curiosity Rover, and Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and largest mountain in the solar system.

Another interactive display, the Mars terraforming table, will allow several visitors at once to engage in an interactive “game” to transform Mars from a frozen, thin-aired environment into an Earth-like planet, a process known as “terraforming.” The multi-touch table, produced with scientific guidance from NASA planetary scientist Chris McKay, is powered by a PlayStation 3 gaming system and 66,000 lines of code developed by an in-house team in collaboration with the open-source community.

Reaching the Outer Solar System
Jupiter’s moon Europa is another promising place to search for life. That task could fall to a robotic submersible, a replica of which is featured here, that would melt through Europa’s icy surface and explore its salty oceans.

Beyond Our Solar System
The exhibition concludes with a look at over a thousand stars that have already been found to have planets of their own. These “exoplanets,” detected by NASA’s orbiting Kepler space telescope in the first four months of operation, raise the tantalizing question of whether any of them support life. 

Artifacts, Models and Interactives

Life-size and scale models

• Curiosity Mars rover
• Vostok Capsule
• Sputnik 1
• Moon boots
• Depth X submersible
• Lunar elevator
• Expandable moon habitat

Historic, scientific objects and models

• Russian space glove
• Lunar tire with including touchable swatch
• Replica Apollo astronaut equipment

Realistic dioramas

• Repairing Hubble telescope
• Moon base camp 10

Digital and kinetic interactives

• Smell the moon
• Liquid mirror telescope simulation
• Asteroid deflection digital kiosk
• Terraforming table
• Moon flyover console

Programs and Events
 

Austin Museum Day

Sunday, September 22, 12 pm - 5 pm
Visit the Bullock Museum on Austin Museum Day to explore three floors of exhibitions for free, including the new exhibitions Beyond Planet Earth and Cowboys in Space. Space-themed family activities will take place from 12 pm to 3 pm.

Storytime: Over the Moon
Thursday, September 26, 10 am - 11 am
Fly high with us as we read and learn all about our moon.

Storytime: Mars
Thursday, October 24, 10 am - 11 am
Mars: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Blast off to Mars and imagine life on the red planet.

Spooktacular
Friday, October 25, 5 pm - 8 pm
Join us at our annual free Halloween celebration for spacey hands-on fun for the whole family in honor of the exhibitions Beyond Planet Earth and Cowboys in Space.

Evening for Educators: Space Exploration
Wednesday, November 13, 5 pm - 8 pm
Join us for a FREE event exclusively for teachers and go out of this world with with the Apollo 11: First Steps IMAX film, then discover both the past and the future of space exploration with the special exhibitions Cowboys in Space and Fantastic Worlds and Beyond Planet Earth.

Little Texans: Space Out
Thursday, November 14, 10 am - 11 am
Imagine a view of space from the cockpit of your rocket ship and create an artful space scene to send home to earthlings.  

Daytrippers: Space Center Houston
Saturday, December 7, 8 am - 5 pm
Join us for trip to Space Center Houston where you can experience the history of space exploration at NASA and find out what's in store for the future of space exploration.

Workshop: Stargazing 101
Saturday, January 11, 12 pm - 1 pm
Join us for a basic astronomy 101 workshop where you can learn what to look for in the night sky and how light pollution affects us. 

About the American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869 and currently celebrating its 150th anniversary, is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses 45 permanent exhibition halls, including those in the Rose Center for Earth and Space plus the Hayden Planetarium, as well as galleries for temporary exhibitions. It is home to New York State’s official memorial to Theodore Roosevelt, a tribute to Roosevelt’s enduring legacy of environmental conservation. The Museum’s approximately 200 scientists draw on a world-class research collection of more than 34 million artifacts and specimens, some of which are billions of years old, and on one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, the Museum grants the Ph.D. degree in Comparative Biology and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree, the only such free-standing, degree-granting programs at any museum in the United States. Annual onsite attendance has grown to approximately 5 million, and the Museum’s exhibitions and Space Shows are seen by millions in venues on six continents. The Museum’s website, digital videos, and apps for mobile devices bring its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions more around the world. Visit amnh.org for more information.