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How will we fly in the future? Can we go on holiday without impacting the climate? These are some of the questions that Experimentarium’s new interactive exhibition, Takeoff to the Future, at Copenhagen Airport addresses. Takeoff to the Future? gives children and adults a helicopter perspective on the future of sustainable air travel – and lets them experiment with the solutions themselves.
Experimentarium has developed the exhibition with support from the Otto Mønsted Foundation, among others, while the airport has made the 100 m2 area in the area between Terminals 2 and 3 available and is financing its operation for the three years of the exhibition.
The exhibition opened in December 2024 and during the first months, 55,000 children and adults visited the exhibition, which will inspire millions of travellers in the future. “What a great exhibition” and “It’s fantastic that you take up such a topic” are some of the statements the exhibition has received from visitors.
“Takeoff to the future? could easily be at the Experimentarium, but because it’s at the airport, it becomes even more relevant – because it’s when the family is flying that the topic is most relevant to them and the questions arise,” says Kim Gladstone Herlev, CEO of Experimentarium.
The exhibition was born out of the realisation that aircraftCO2 emissions have a significant impact on climate change, and the exhibition seeks to provide concrete solutions to this. With this exhibition, Experimentarium and Copenhagen Airport wanted to engage children and adults in thinking about and proposing solutions to the alternatives to fossil fuels. Hence the question mark in the title of the exhibition – Takeoff to the future? – because what alternatives do we really have to the usual fuels that fly us to and from Mallorca and elsewhere?
“It’s important to show that it’s actually possible to fly with a smallercarbon footprint. The technology already exists today, but we need to accelerate the development and production of more sustainable fuels so we can really accelerate the green transition of aviation. Copenhagen Airport wants to help raise awareness of the new types of fuels that are on the way. Experimentarium, which is known for creating engaging experiences for the whole family, has succeeded in making a complex subject more accessible with this exhibition,” says Christian Poulsen, CEO of Copenhagen Airport.
Interactive play with the future
The exhibition aims to give children, young people and adults from all over the world an understanding of the need to make air travel a more sustainable form of transport. Through facts and games, it makes it clear that science and technology, as well as collaboration between research and business, are crucial to getting closer to the goal of a balanced planet. The exhibition is based on the latest research in sustainable fuels and also supports Danish research’s contribution to strengthening Denmark’s position in green industries.
Takeoff to the future? is built around six key activities, which together provide a narrative about relevant opportunities for future aircraft and aircraft fuels and the challenges associated with the various technologies. Children and adults can try to get different types of aircraft to take off using wind and buoyancy. They can try their hand at capturing energy in a Power-to-X plant that produces hydrogen to make fuel. Or they can choose a destination and then see how the aircraft can get there – both with the technologies available today and those that may become available in the future, where there is no indication that we will fly less.
