01 February 2013
Posted in Science Park

Are you ready for some football?! Super Bowl fever is gripping the nation and the Science Center is no exception! Did you know that professional football players don’t just have talent and luck on their side? There’s also a science behind the perfect pass!

ESPN Sports Science partnered with NFL QB Drew Brees to find the scientific secrets behind his extremely accurate throws. Using a football outfitted with sensors and devices to measure everything from release angle to velocity, Brees tossed 10 perfect passes at a target only 4.5 inches in diameter.

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30 January 2013
Posted in Space Junk 3D

The 2008 Disney-Pixar blockbuster WALL-E is a comical and suprisingly sweet tale of a small trash-gathering robot accidentally abandoned on earth. Although this animated film is seemingly innocent, it gives an extremely accurate picture of some of the dangers in our future.

In WALL-E, the earth is surrounded by a dense field of orbiting junk. This is actually a very real issue—it is estimated that Lower Earth Orbit contains more than 6,000 tons of satellites and debris, and less than 20 percent is actually operational!

Although the spaceships in the movie have no issue plowing through the sattelites and debris, this act is extremely dangerous. In orbit, these objects are moving at approximately 4.5 miles per second, which means even a tiny item can do serious damage if a spaceship collides with it. A space shuttle once wound up with a half-inch dent in one of its sturdy windows because of a collision with a paint chip one-eighth of an inch across!

You can learn all about this problem at the Orlando Science Center in Space Junk 3D, now showing daily in the newly renovated Digital Adventure Theatre! Experience mind-boggling collisions and soar to the stunning depths of Meteor Crater for an unprecedented view of our increasingly crowded orbits, all with our state-of-the-art 4K digital projection and 7.1 surround sound! This is a fully submersive experience that is sure to please.

21 January 2013
Posted in Otronicon

It's game over for Otronicon 2013. Take a look at the action from day four!

It's never too soon to save up your "tokens" for next year's event!

Photos courtesy of Michael van Gelder and RF Photography.

20 January 2013
Posted in Otronicon

Day three of Otronicon is in the books, but there's one day left! Get a glimpse of the fun that was had as the best of the city's technology was on display.

Photos courtesy of RF Photography.

19 January 2013
Posted in Otronicon

Saturday marked day two of Otronicon and we're just getting started! See what you missed, and be sure to be here Sunday and Monday for the eighth annual spectacular.

Photos courtesy of Michael van Gelder and Jaffy Escarcha.

18 January 2013
Posted in Otronicon

Let The Games Begin! The four-day Otronicon event has begun. Check out the photos from Day One! 

Photos courtesy of Michael van Gelder.