Space 50 is a series of events celebrating 50 Years since the launch of the world's first artificial satellite - Sputnik 1 - which the Telescope tracked - significantly marking the dawn of the "Space Age".
Creative Media Techniques (CMT) supplied all technical infrastructure - including projection, lighting, lasers and sound - and crew, working closely with show producer Dr Alastair Gunn, a radio astronomer from the University of Manchester's School of Physics and Astronomy - who conceived the event.
The CMT team was led by Richard Hawkins. The original brief involved projecting moving images onto the 75m wide dish, together with a sound system for the audio track playback. However, after CMT won the tender, this was expanded to include lighting and lasers in the show. Hawkins comments, "Naturally we jumped at the chance to work on such a prestigious and unusual site - it was a truly amazing experience."
For projection, Hawkins specified two Christie 20K HDs, overlaid to produce one super-bright 65m wide image. The projectors were located 100m away from the telescope on specially-constructed towers 10ft off the ground. The images were edge blended using the projectors' onboard ChristieTWIST edge-blending software.
Stored on and played back via DV cam, along with the audio track, the 37 minute video show consisted of archive and historical space-orientated footage, graphics and photographs, tracing the history of the Telescope, the moon race and space exploration in general. This was painstakingly compiled by Alastair Gunn in the three months preceding the event.
The show started with a 12 minute sequence as the 3500 tonne Telescope lumbered into its 'show position' - from zenith (vertical) to 1 degree above the horizontal. At strategic points throughout the show, lighting and laser effects were activated via manual cues.
Lighting consisted of six 1.8K Studio Duo CityColor colour changing flood fixtures, placed around the base of the dish, inside the tracks on which it rotates and moves, complete with 6 Terrastrobes and two Space Flowers at its rear.
Front of house were two small left and right towers, containing a total of eight Robe ColorSpot 1200E AT moving lights, used for gobo and wash effects on the sides of the dish around the video. When the video content went to black and white, the Robes were used for subtle masked break-up effects over the top of the video - producing a layer of spacey texturing.
A pair of 5 Watt diode lasers were positioned left and right of the perimeter fence around the dish, approximately 90m apart, utilised for projecting aerial beams and effects out over the audience. These were operated live by Richard Hawkins via a Pangolin Performer keyboard, and choreographed to the soundtrack.
Lighting was controlled from an Avolites Diamond 4 console, programmed by Darren Parker and operated by Ben Bungle, who worked with lighting tech Andy Higgins. Hawkins operated the lasers, and the video was set up and overseen by Julian Hogg. CMT also supplied a 7Kw EV sound system consisting of six tops and four subs to cover the audience area.
Each show attracted up to 2000 people, and the event was such a success that Gunn and the team from Jodrell Bank Observatory are already considering staging future shows on the same site.
(Jim Evans)
