The New Mexico Museum of Space History has upgraded its New Horizons Dome Theatre and Planetarium with the world’s first 4K laser Fulldome planetarium projection system.
The Spitz SciDome system has replaced the museum’s IMAX system and features two of Digital Projection’s INSIGHT Laser 4K projectors. Producing a total of 24,000 laser illuminated lumens, the pair provides a single solution designed to handle all dome projection applications.
The upgrade has allowed the New Mexico Museum of Space History to offer a wider range of content across its 360-degree, 40-foot dome screen. This includes star shows & planetarium movies as well as large screen films.
Solid-state laser technology improves reliability
The combined INSIGHT Laser 4K projectors utilise purpose-built dome lenses and cover 360 degrees of the New Horizons Dome Theatre, providing 4K resolution via laser 
illumination onto the 12 metres (40-foot) SciDome surface. This new system delivers a higher resolution to display crisp planetarium star fields and vivid pre-rendered shows.
According to Digital Projection, the projectors’ solid-state laser illumination technology significantly improves reliability. It also dispenses with the maintenance costs and potential downtime associated with older arc lamp systems.
“We’ve been extremely pleased with the new SciDome 4K Laser Projection system,” confirms Christopher Orwoll, Executive Director of the New Mexico Museum of Space History.
“The image on our dome is stunning in all the various modes we use the system and is easy to work with. The operation of the new system is much, much easier and far less prone to failure. The projectors & lenses have been very reliable and we haven’t lost any shows because of them, not to mention the costs to operate them are a fraction of what it used to be for the IMAX system (utilities & personnel). It was a great, great choice for us and we’ve been very happy with our decision.”
