Production Manager for the Artemis I Live Stream VR event at Felix & Paul Studios and manager for projects on the International Space Stations and future lunar missions.

This lively, moderated session will take a case study approach to the most ambitious live event production and distribution for dome theaters. Felix & Paul Studios, the award-winning, Montreal-based immersive production studio, in collaboration with NASA and META, will capture the Artemis I rocket launch, tentatively set for August of this year. The unmanned, maiden flight of the Artemis program (Apollo’s successor) will verify system performance in hopes of placing astronauts back on the lunar surface by 2024. The launch will be streamed LIVE in 360º video. Worldwide audiences will experience the event in domes / planetariums, through META Quest and in 2D 360º on Facebook, and via mobile carriers.

NASA’s Artemis program will be a defining event of the 21st century, celebrating the first woman and person of colour to set foot on the Moon. FPS will leverage immersive media to transport viewers on the journey of humanity’s return to the Moon. FPS has a multi-disciplinary plan for the Artemis I live event, with hundreds of planetariums around the world poised to take part. Representatives of FPS will share their challenges and key learning from planning this event, including its technology requirements, business model, licensing complexities, B2B and B2B marketing, all in the context of an imprecise launch date of Artemis I! We will also gain the valuable perspective from a leading planetarium who is an exhibitor in this event. FPS’ Artemis I event production and distribution may prove to be a springboard for live events produced by others.

In the event that Artemis I is not launched by October: A new and final segment of this session will be devoted to a separate but related exploration of the potential for convergence between fulldome and native 360 video. In this segment, FPS will discuss best practices in one its specialties: converting 360 3D video into the fulldome format. [Note to the IMERSA planning team: as the Artemis Launch timeline evolves, even if Artemis launches before the IMERSA event, it may be possible for FPS to present a short version of the above-mentioned “contingency” session].

Featured panelists: 

P. Andrew Keenan: Production Manager for the Artemis I Live Stream VR event at Felix & Paul Studios and manager for projects on the International Space Stations and future lunar missions.

Olivier Hernandez: Director, Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, and Interim Director, Biodome, at Space for Life, Montréal. He is an expert astrophysicist in instrumentation, specializing in galaxies and exoplanets. 

(90 minutes)