The 360° domed show Earth Defenders! written and produced by the Life team, is being shared with science centres nationwide and screened in Life’s planetarium to mark the launch of the BIOMASS satellite.
Earth Defenders! was written and produced by the in-house team that created the acclaimed What Santa Sees show.
The animated show, which is produced in a 1980s retro style, features a team of ‘superhero satellites’ defending Earth from above, including BIOMASS, a UK-led satellite with a climate-focussed mission.
BIOMASS will be officially launched into orbit, 666km above Earth, from French Guiana on Tuesday 29 April. It will give the first global scale measurement of the planet’s trees to understand how forests are changing across the world.
Designed and produced by Airbus Space & Defence UK, BIOMASS was built in the UK and teams in Newcastle have provided technical mission support as well as exploring how else the data gathered by the satellite could be used.
BIOMASS will spend a minimum of five years measuring Earth’s tree heights, growth and forest disturbance with extraordinary accuracy to give scientists a precise understanding of how much carbon is locked up in the world’s forests and how this is changing.
Earth Defenders! wowed audiences in Life’s planetarium last summer and is returning for a limited run. The team at Life has also offered the animated show to centres who are part of the Association for Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) – the UK body that represents science centres and museums nationally..
“As someone who uses satellites as an essential component into their research into the Earth’s rapidly changing polar regions, I’m thrilled that Life are showing visitors how important satellites are, and are making them accessible to younger audiences.”
Sammie Buzzard, Assistant Professor at Northumbria University and a principal investigator at the Centre for Polar Observation (CPOM), who is featured in the showEarth Defenders! will be on in Life’s Planetarium from Monday 28 April and is included with your science centre ticket.
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