There has to be a way

To make use of the fact that we have a version of basically every antenna ever used to communicate anything with the space shuttle.

I was thinking of making a generic spacecom display, but then we got a Ku band antenna, which pretty much was the last major missing piece. There are some antennas we have from things that weren't the space shuttle (but used the same frequency) or were precursors to later antennae, but on the whole, we caught them all.

Gotta catch 'em all! 

I tried to think of a way last week, but my brain refused to come up with anything on the right scale. On the other hand, I have an idea for a really cool room-sized highly interactive exhibit far beyond our budget.

To copy what I wrote in my sketchbook: 

How would I express this idea, of Space Communications in the shuttle era, if I wanted to impress an international committee? I'd invert perceptions. I'd put Mission Control in space, such that their big tracking screen becomes a Star Trek-style window looking out over the earth. Set it up in 3D, not just a graphic--set up the mission control desks as interactive consoles, maybe use a live ISS feed for the "window" at the front, make some of the consoles screenless so they can behave like display cases (really cool display cases), set some of them up as interactive features in their own right--a landing simulator, a docking simulator, something along those lines with a satellite theme maybe, let people listen to old recordings or see old films and try their own hands at making sense of the punch card data. 

Gemini era mission control

Maybe not a full mission control room--that seems exhaustingly large--but two, two and a half rows of displays and so on, with chairs and fun things people can watch on the screen and buttons to push and things to mess with, interesting graphics on the wall explaining Mission Control, satellites, tracking, whatever. It could be extensive, but is obviously a bit useless in our current situation. Right? I mean, we have some of the old controls, and server racks, and whatever, but we can't really use them for this. Right? 

I gotta think on this. In the meantime, while I muse this over, I'm also reading my favourite (still alive) artist's blog regarding composition. He has some things that, while aimed towards the 2D, could nevertheless remain important in the realm of 3D. 

• Overlapping shapes enhances the sense of depth; if you draw three things layered slightly, the picture will have more depth than two things flat next to each other. Ergo, if you don't let things overlap, you flatten the composition. Presumably, this carries over into displays. 
• Design for design's sake isn't always enough to create something compelling. The Story of a picture matters at least as much. This carries into museology: PARI's story should be its own, and the museum should reflect that. Which means the space shuttle is a little bit tricky, because that story was one we played no part in. 

 Also, in an attempt to capture the mood we might want to pursue...I'm resorting to Pinterest.

Right now, I'm guessing, based mostly on the gold carpet. I'm not sure if it would be better to pursue a more modern design--have you been to a new TCBY? Think like that--or go full out mid-century retro, like I've accumulated in my pinboard this afternoon. (I have to link to aforementioned pinboard because Blogger can't bloody handle it. I should have used Wordpress for this, but live and learn? Stupid platform.) I don't really have a whole lot of say in the theme, exactly--they want design ideas, but it ain't my job to see them implemented per say--but if everything I give them has a coherent theme, it's presumably fairly likely to end up in the final product. Because if everything I produce has an atomic age vibe, who's going to bother to redo it as long as it's something integral to the design functionality?

...this is also, as far as I can tell, a digital method of a standard museum practise. I've found multiple sources suggesting the creation of a design wall. Well, I don't really have a wall, or a printer, but I have a laptop. Since only a handful of people need to have a look at this, I may as well do things like this--although, when I get home next, I should probably print out a few of the most relevant pictures and make a high school style sketchbook page, so I can thump it down in front of somebody in a dramatic way. Seems like, to get anything much done, dramatic thumping of something concrete is necessary. I think it's a human nature thing...