A leading 8K hybrid system in Tsukuba’s impressive 25.6m dome, just next to JAXA!

We installed in 2020 in the impressive 25.6m dome of the Tsukuba Expo Center in Japan, a leading 8K hybrid system bringing together Konica Minolta Planetarium’s & RSA Cosmos’s technological strengths: a powerful digital system using 6 x 4K JVC DLA-VS4600 projectors, hybridized with the Infinium starball, and totally synchronized with SkyExplorer, named Media Globe ∑ SE in Japan.

The Tsukuba Expo Center Planetarium is located just next to JAXA, in the very dynamic city of Tsukuba, where everything is brought together to live the most innovative & realistic scientific experiences!

Tsukuba is the largest hub of scientific technology in Japan, home to many research institutions, to the space center JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and to the Tsukuba Expo Center.
The Tsukuba Expo Center provides many exhibitions to learn about cutting-edge science through hands-on experiences and has an impressive 25.6m planetarium to offer exceptional fulldome experiences.

In this spectacular planetarium, we installed 6 x 4K JVC DLA-VS4600 projectors, benefiting from JVC’s laser hybrid illumination system, to offer high levels of contrast & brightness and superior image quality. We hybridized this powerful digital system with Konica Minolta Planetarium’s powerful opto-mechanical system, an Infinium starball, to achieve the most realistic starry sky.

We totally synchronized these incredible technologies with our powerful astronomical software, SkyExplorer, named Media Globe ∑ SE in Japan, to deliver the most stunning, realistic & scientifically accurate fulldome experiences.

As the Tsukuba Expo Center planetarium team writes: “When we renovated the digital planetarium system in 2020, as part of the renewal opening program, we produced a show with full use of SkyExplorer’s abundant database and simulation. The title is “Cosmic Cruise from Earth: All Aboard for a New Tour of the Universe!”. As we expected, the high-resolution and bright program entertained the audience with the floating space tour taking off from the beautiful earth to the moon, solar system and the Milky Way galaxy. Most of the scenes were made with SkyExplorer’s simulation engine, and our dream grew with its abundance of functions. We look forward to discovering further the great possibilities offered by SkyExplorer”.

To provide an always richer & technologically leading experience to users & the audience, we also installed the Connected Dome Library. This fulldome digital content distribution service enables users to present with great flexibility a wider variety of shows and encourage repeat visitors.

Many thanks to the Tsukuba Expo Center & Planetarium team for this impressive project!