News Update – Digital planetarium to “transport audience through the universe”
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Click here to download the PDF for News Update 19 June 2013
The city of Mangaung in partnership with the DETEA and UFS on Tuesday, June 18 launched another flagship project at Naval Hill Nature Reserve, where crates which will form an integral part of the digital planetarium were unveiled in front of the media and various stakeholders.
The launch was attended by the MEC DETEA, Mr Msebenzi Zwane, MMM Deputy-Mayor Clr Connie Rampai, UFS Vice-Rector: Operations Professor Nicky Morgan, and officials from various entities which are working together for the realisation of the planetarium.
“The digital planetarium is a tripartite partnership between the city, government and the university, and it will take all our efforts to make it a success. As with the revitalisation of Naval Hill, this will position Mangaung as a prime tourist destination” Clr Rampai said.
The dream of having a digital planetarium, which would be the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, started many years ago, Professor Morgan told the gathered audience.
]During his keynote address, MEC Zwane said once completed, the digital planetarium would attract not only locals and South Africans, but even the world at large.
The MEC further explained that the second phase of the project would include the development of a state of the art eco-park recreational area to complement the planetarium; and eventually the establishment of an international hotel & convention centre including an office park, which in turn will generate significant revenue for MMM through rates and taxes.
Visitors of the planetarium would be immersed in a 3-D experience of the digital Universe as well as the recreation of the macro- and micro-cosmos and a variety of other environments. This will enable the audience to ‘fly through’ the Universe, visit planets, explore secrets of the oceans, or even organs of the human body. This would be complemented by a state of the art sound system.