A 3D film that embarks audiences on an exceptional journey beyond our planet, delving into humanity’s next significant frontier, Mars, debuted at the Science City on Thursday.

The screening of One Step Beyond: A Journey to Mars was inaugurated by Goutam Chattopadhyay, senior scientist at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, and visiting professor at the institute in Pasadena, US.

The film traces the legacy of the first human step on the Moon and moves forward to the future of space exploration. It captures the thrill of rocket launches, the challenges of living and working in space, and the remarkable technological advancements shaping the next era of exploration.

The narrative highlights the cutting-edge developments of Nasa’s Artemis programme and examines the scientific quest to discover signs of life beyond Earth. The Artemis programme is specifically designed as a foundational “stepping stone” to prepare humanity for the first crewed missions to Mars.

“Spectacular,” is how Chattopadhyay of Nasa described the experience on Thursday. “It is a peek into the enormous possibilities that 3D animation offers. The best thing is that the film is grounded in science and reality. Everyone will love it because space is something that excites everybody,” he said.

A group of schoolchildren wearing 3D glasses in the audience on Thursday were thrilled.

The Space Theatre at Science City is billed as India’s first 3D full-dome digital theatre.

The renovated theatre was inaugurated in 2019. The immersive viewing experience of the earlier 2D dome screen often led people to mistake it for a 3D one. This feeling was heightened by films containing mostly aerial shots.

The new screen is real 3D, which means viewers would need to wear glasses supplied before each show.

“The fulldome 3D digital theatre is equipped to screen high-resolution fulldome digital content in both 2D and 3D, as well as planetarium shows, using six high-end digital projectors that together deliver an effective screen resolution of nearly 30 million pixels,” said A. D. Choudhury, director-general of the National Council of Science Museums.

K. S. Murali, deputy-director general of the NSCM and Pramod Grover, director of Science City, Calcutta, were also present at the screening.

“This 25-minute film has been released in three languages — English, Bengali and Hindi. For the general public, it will be screened seven times daily from 11am to 5pm, starting Friday,” Grover said.