We can only dream of visiting the stars. But what if the stars could visit us? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Well, thanks to Urânia, they can, and they do. And for thousands of Brazilian school children, the experience is magical.

The secret of this interstellar travel in reverse lies in a fleet of Christie 4K860-iS equipped, 23′ (7m) inflatable planetariums that boldly go where no planetarium has gone before. Crisscrossing Brazil, these mobile planetariums turn schoolyards into solar systems, gyms into galaxies, and school children into astronauts.

It’s all fueled by one of the most powerful forces in the universe: the enthusiasm of children. Urânia’s CEO Tiago José da Silva, a man not short of enthusiasm himself, explains: “Most of our followers on Instagram are not educationalists, but children,” he says. “They’re 13 to 15 years old, and their passion for the stars is unbelievable. So, when a 360-degree planetarium unexpectedly lands at their school, that’s a big deal, maybe the biggest deal ever. They’re excited before the show even starts.”

Educational value

Engaged and enthusiastic kids are, as any teacher will tell you, some of the most fun to teach. Since it’s teachers in schools, not children on Instagram, who book Urânia’s services, the educational value needs to be clear. The alignment is definitely there since Urânia’s core purpose has always been education first, with entertainment second. It’s all about spreading knowledge and bringing the opportunity to learn and experience into places that are otherwise difficult to reach.

Long journeys, fast setup

The tech behind the scenes is the key to allowing all this to happen. The synthetic fabric construction of the domes is tailored to Urânia’s specifications so they can inflate in minutes and they’re matched by the Christie 4K860-iS projectors. “They’re an essential component of our mobile planetariums,” he says, “Not only powerful, compact, and flexible, but also resilient enough to withstand the demanding conditions of being set up and packed up daily and the rigors of the road. Their reliability and ease of use are crucial.”

One million students

Tiago estimates that since he launched the project, Urania has given one million students the opportunity to see the wonders of the cosmos close-up in Full HD and 4K.

Students, often from rural or downtown urban schools, typically wouldn’t have the chance to visit a fixed planetarium installation because the distance and the expense are too great. It’s what drives Urania’s project forward and ultimately makes all those long, enthusiasm-sapping hours on rural roads in an equipment truck worthwhile. A cliché perhaps, but the delight on the faces of the children as they grasp complex astronomical concepts for the first time is one of the wonders of the universe.

For many of these students, visiting a planetarium must have felt as remote as the stars themselves and an outright impossibility. But as Urania and Brazil’s teachers have shown, few things are impossible in this universe when you have the enthusiasm to make them happen.