'Space Junk' movie-makers look to the heavens

The widely anticipated movie "Gravity" follows the horrifying tale of an astronaut set adrift when debris hits her ship during a space walk.

It's fiction. But the facts behind the movie can be found in a new Minneapolis-produced film, "Space Junk 3D." Now showing at the IMAX Theater at the Minnesota Zoo, it's as scary as a Hollywood thriller.

Most of us don't worry about space much, but "Space Junk 3D" reminds us we are very connected with what's going on in the heavens.

Some 22,000 miles above the surface of the Earth, the world's global communications satellites run in the same orbit littered with dead satellites, rocket bodies and their debris. When those objects inevitably collide, it creates more debris. "Space Junk 3D" uses an eye-popping mixture of live-action shots and animation to demonstrate both the implications of and possible solutions to atmospheric debris.

"Orbital debris in space is definitely a problem," said filmmaker Melissa Butts, who with her Melrae Pictures partner Kim Rowe made "Space Junk 3D."

"I think that was one of the reasons why we were attracted to the story line," she said, "to essentially bring it to the public eye, to create a dialogue around the idea of what's happening, and a public awareness."

Rowe came up with the idea of telling the story of how a half century of space exploration has left so much trash floating around in the atmosphere, it threatens both satellites, and other craft, such as the International Space Station.

The film relates the unfortunate side effects of a Chinese anti-satellite missile test, Rowe said. "It successfully blew up an inactive satellite but created a whole lot more space junk.

"That once incident caused over 150 pieces immediately, and has since spiraled and grown in size," Rowe said. "So when the (space station) has to move positions because of a piece of debris it's most often from that or another satellite crash."

Everything up there is moving so fast, it's not just huge pieces of junk they worry about, Butts said. "A fleck of paint that's traveling at hypervelocity speeds, 17,500 mph, is liable to do some damage."

It's all a little scary when you realize the vulnerability of our communications systems.

For Butts, though, it's a perfect story for what she does as a 3-D director. She makes 3-D movies for IMAX theaters, where audiences can get swallowed in an image several stories high.

"Because the IMAX theater is such a huge space, it gives you this amazing palette," she said.

3D films may be consuming Hollywood at the moment, but Butts says she got into making them years ago because of the stereoscopic images beamed back from NASA missions to Mars, which became the basis for an IMAX film.

"I mean, that's how we took our cues," she said. "We didn't learn, for example, from Hollywood. It's all based in science and technology, education."

Rowe says they've had to prepare versions of the film in seven different formats because of how people watch movies nowadays. That includes a 3D version for your phone.

Butts is very proud to be based in Minneapolis, and to be opening "Space Junk 3D" in her hometown.

She and Rowe now working on a film called "Electropolis" about the science of power for release in 2015.

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