Arrive for your pre-booked time slot at the Science Museum's latest blockbuster and you are guided into a shuttle ready for take off. Emerge a couple of minutes later onto the deck of the star ship Azimuth, to be greeted by your guide, an AI robot, A.L.L.A.N.
There follows a skilfully-blended mix of treasures and trivia from the world of sci-fi – Darth Vader's helmet, a model of the U.S.S. Enterprise – and an exploration of the science fact behind and inspired by the fiction.
Look at a Hyper-sleep pod from Ridley Scott's movie Prometheus and then learn about the scientific research being undertaken to see if 'torpor sleep' might be used for a manned mission to Mars. Consider the world's first pacemaker in the context of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Listen to a video of humpback whales communicating to see ways alien life forms might communicate.
Loads of well-thought out interactives. Take a quiz to see 'what percentage cyborg' you already are (do you wear braces? take vitamins...). Use scientific equations to calculate how optimistic you are about detecting intelligent life in the Milky Way.
The last section looks at how sci-fi thinking could be the answer to saving our fragile planet. It is not entirely bleak, or impossible. The future may be in their hands. Best for ages 8+.
Voyage to the Edge of Imagination Tickets: £20 adults, £18 ages 8–16, under 8s free. Runs to 4 May 2023.