Enter the heart of space applications and discover space and Earth as you've never seen them before! By focusing on the Earth as seen from space, Earthwatch offers a radical change of perspective.
 

Earthwatch: the satellite revolution comprises two sections:

  • "Monitoring the Earth" is at the heart of the exhibition and looks at the contributions made by space science and technology to numerous human activities.
  • "Journey into Space" puts science and technology into a historical context with the space conquest.

1. Monitoring the Earth: space, our planet's life support system

At the centre of the exhibition, this section presents the different areas of application of space technologies: research but also land management, heritage management, meteorology, transport, fishing, to name but a few. Interactive applications let the visitor find out about satellite data, how it is produced and what it is used for.

In detail ...

  • 1.1 The Earth seen from space

Highlight of the exhibition, the Globaloscope is a giant sphere on which satellite images of the Earth are projected. Visitors will be able to see the annual progression of Earth's major systems on the scale of the globe (atmosphere, oceans and vegetation, etc.). Adjacent to Globaloscope are six interactive tables where visitors can handle cartographic and space images and discover the many uses of satellite data.

  • 1.2 Spectrum and remote sensing

With the help of simple applications, find out how satellites gather and send information. Discover out how geolocation works using a GPS system installed on the roof of the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie.

  • 1.3 Data processing

A multimedia workshop explains the many processes that satellite data has to undergo to become visible and legible images: it's up to you to handle the images and let them speak!

2. Into space: enter space with a series of steps, big and small


The second section
retraces the incredible history of the space conquest, from the first Sputnik beeps in 1957. The visitor will discover how spacecraft work and the laws of physics that they obey.

In detail ...

 

  • 2.1 An epic story

Relive the key moments in the history of the space conquest in sound and pictures: a cutting-edge interface lets you select and watch historic video fragments and the space phone invites you to listen to and sample a selection of sound pieces.

  • 2.2 Space technologies

Discover the technologies that make adventures in space possible! Experience the countdown to a launch, take command of the controls of the ARV and dock on the international space station, build a launcher or satellite and more besides.

  • 2.3 Space physics

Weightlessness, propulsion, vacuum, choice of orbits and conditions of life in space. Using games and animations, you can experiment with the laws of space physics and the restrictions they place on space travellers!

3. The partners