Influencer Delaney Martinez, 11, poses amongst some of the inflatable planets at The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Solar System Encounter. Martinez has a Youtube channel, @SciencewithDee that has over 15K followers!(Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Visitors can get an in-depth look at what lies beyond planet Earth and learn more about the science behind the universe with two new space-themed exhibits open at Discovery Cube Orange County in Santa Ana.
Artemis Adventures, which allows visitors to experience what it’s like to drive a lunar rover, and the Solar System Encounter, which features high-definition images from space, both aim to teach patrons about space exploration through interactive, hands-on activities.
The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Artemis Adventures allows visitors to drive remote-controlled lunar rovers. The new exhibit will open Jan. 27th. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Nayeli Cardenas of Anaheim throws a parachute during an exhibition at The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Solar System Encounter. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Gases as seen through an influencer’s iPhone at The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Solar System Encounter. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Jill Parkin of Yorba Linda checks out a refractive lens as seen through her iPhone at The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Solar System Encounter. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Rosemary Elder videos one of the planets on display. The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Solar System Encounter & Artemis Adventures opens on Jan. 27th. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Melanie Walsh of Anaheim records video for her site during a preview of The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Solar System Encounter which will open Jan. 27th. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
A drone is part of a display at The Discovery Cube Orange County Solar System Encounter. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Artemis Adventures features remote-controlled lunar rovers that visitors can drive around a small course. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Delaney Martinez, left, and Cindy di Avani, right, drive the lunar rovers as the new Artemis Adventures which will open Jan. 27th. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Erin Edwards, left, and Rosemary Elder, center, video a science experiment at a preview of the Discovery Cube Orange Countyxe2x80x99s Solar System Encounter which is slated to open Jan. 27th. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Influencer Brooke Hawkins of Costa Mesa grabs some content for her Instagram site at a preview of The Discovery Cube Orange Countyxe2x80x99s Solar System Encounter which will open Jan. 27th. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Solar System Encounter was previewed to a select group of influencers on Thursday Jan. 25, 2024. The exhibit features inflatable planets and high definition screens that contrast the old Hubble technology and the new James Webb telescope. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Solar System Encounter features inflatable planets and a display of the James Week Space Telescope on high definition screens. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Influencer Delaney Martinez, 11, poses amongst some of the inflatable planets at The Discovery Cube Orange County’s Solar System Encounter. Martinez has a Youtube channel, @SciencewithDee that has over 15K followers!(Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
“Here at Discovery Cube our mission is to make learning fun,” said Cherie Whyte, vice president of marketing. “Not only do we provide all of these amazing elements where you can learn about the world around us, but we do it in a way that kids can explore, touch and feel.”
In Artemis Adventures – a nod to NASA’s current Artemis program, which aims to establish a long-term human presence on the moon by the end of the decade – an exhibit invites visitors to imagine what it would be like to eat, sleep and travel while living on the moon.
A few feet away, visitors can follow in the footsteps of astronauts who explored the moon during NASA’s Apollo missions in the late 1960s and early ’70s by driving mini remote-controlled lunar rovers across a detailed model of the moon’s surface.
Guests may venture out even further in the Solar System Encounter, a popular returning exhibit that features a colorful, large-scale model of the sun, planets and other objects at its center.
Here, visitors may participate in space-themed experiments, find out what they’d weigh on other planets, and – new this year – view images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope provided through a collaboration with James Bullock, an astrophysicist and dean of UC Irvine’s School of Physical Sciences.
Cindy di Avani, education manager for the Discovery Cube, said space is a popular topic among students served by the organization, and the new exhibits provide an engaging way to teach visitors about chemistry, physics and other science-related topics.
“Kids don’t realize that all the things they love are science, and there is science in everything,” she said. “So when they come here, they get to be more fully enveloped in the science all around them.
“This is their opportunity to really just dive in, experience their experiences and ask those questions of ‘What is this’ and ‘How does it work’ and ‘Why does it work,’” she added.
Artemis Adventures is a permanent exhibit, while the Solar System Encounter will run through March 3; both are included with Discovery Cube general admission.
