DETROIT – If you’re going to the Michigan Science Center anytime soon – don’t plan on visiting the planetarium. It’s closed as it undergoes a major project to create a new immersive and interactive learning space.
The science center launched $4.5 million in capital upgrades and new programs aimed at inspiring curiosity in aviation, aerospace, and deep space.
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The planetarium updates will bring a new state-of-the-art 8K digital projection providing real-time space visualization capabilities, a seamless dome, new incliner seats and an updated audio system. The new system will replace the 2K resolution projection system the science center pieced together after its previous planetarium projector died during the 2020 closure of the center during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alongside these enhancements, the Air and Space exhibit will also be revamped with interactive displays and immersive computer simulations. Visitors will have opportunities to engage in activities such as launching paper airplanes, experimenting with wind tunnels, building and testing rockets, piloting a virtual lunar module, and designing and managing commercial or exploration space missions. They can even participate in a game to protect Earth from incoming asteroids.
Additional simulators will allow guests to virtually operate NASA’s Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter on Mars.
The project is funded by several sources, including a $2.6 million grant from the Ballmer Group, a $987,000 federal allocation made in 2024 aimed at upgrading space science exhibits, and a $798,000 NASA grant supporting a collaborative program with the Hayden Planetarium in New York that gives teenagers the unique opportunity to create their own planetarium presentations.
The revamped planetarium is set to reopen for testing during the holiday season later this year, with full operations starting in early 2026. The first show in the refreshed space, titled “Hyperspace: A Stellar Odyssey,” will showcase a solar system designed by about 20 Detroit teenagers.