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James Dolan’s MSG Sphere had NASA test Vegas concert venue tech
James Dolan's MSG Sphere had NASA test Vegas concert venue tech


It’s outta this world.

Sphere, a huge, first-of-its-kind concert and event venue in Las Vegas set to open later this year, is so high-tech, NASA has gotten involved.

The space agency is using ultra high-resolution cameras on the International Space Station to capture images of the solar system that will feature at an immersive exhibit at Sphere this fall.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory tasked an ISS astronaut with taking footage using Sphere cams.

“It will be on a free spacewalk … capturing the glorious nature of our planet looking back on it,” David Dibble, chief executive officer of MSG Ventures, a division of Sphere Entertainment, told The Post. “We’re pretty thrilled about it.”

The NASA collaboration is just one of many innovative elements of Sphere.

At 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide, it will be the world’s largest spherical structure — the “first and only of its kind on the planet,” Dibble said. “This is a new medium for entertainment.”

The construction costs for the venue, slated to open on the Vegas strip next to the Venetian hotel on September 29 with a U2 residency, are now expected to be $2.2 billion — and counting.

The 20,000-seat venue was originally budgeted at $1.2 billion.

It will have 170,000 “ultra-direction” speakers that use wave field synthesis to provide high-end sound to concertgoers, no matter what section they’re in.

“Every seat in the house is the best house for your audio experience,” Dibble said. “We put in the Beacon Theatre to test it. The response from the artists was ‘wow.’”

Sphere will also feature 580,000 square feet of LED panels, allowing visuals to be easily changed for different exhibits and performers.

On Monday, it was announced that a 68,000-square-foot production studio in Burbank, California, will be creating content for Sphere. The campus is equipped with a 28,000-square-foot, 100-foot-high dome — one-quarter the size of Sphere — so stunning footage can be projected on the rounded walls of the Vegas venue.

Creating footage for such a huge canvas demands top-notch cameras.

The Burbank facility has developed a camera system called “Big Sky” that will use the largest single sensor in commercial use.

“Big Sky is a giant leap forward for imaging,” said Deanan DaSilva, Big Sky’s lead architect. He added that the technology, which incorporates 10 separate patents, “allows us to capture cinematic content at a level of detail never before possible.”

In the past, supersized images have been made by “stitching” together smaller images in post-production, but Big Sky will bypass that step, creating huge singular photos.

“It’s unheard of,” said Dibble. “No camera system on the planet could do this.”

He and James Dolan, executive chairman and chief executive officer for Sphere Entertainment and Madison Square Garden Entertainment, were intent on developing this technology.

“Jim and I were talking one day. We said, ‘We have to address [stitching],’” said Dibble. “We got it delivered from concept to working in less than 24 months.”

Big Sky will eventually travel to the ISS to shoot footage, but it’s currently on the road, capturing the beauty of our planet for the exhibition “Postcard from Earth,” which opens Oct. 6, 2023 at Sphere.

A second, even larger Sphere is being planned by Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. in London, but it’s been delayed, in part due to resistance from residents.

But the Vegas venue’s premiere is drawing ever closer, with tickets are on sale for both U2 and “Postcards.”

“This is the world’s most sophisticated entertainment venue,” Dibble said. “We didn’t know if it was possible from an engineering and architecture standpoint and we didn’t have anybody to help us. Aside from that, it was a piece of cake.”

This content was originally published here.










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