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Concepts for Discovery Park's nine galleries have been approved. Thinc Design is currently preparing the detailed specifications and drawings that will be needed for exhibit construction. This work will be completed in August and exhibit construction will begin soon thereafter.
Discovery Center will enable visitors to see the diversity and wonder of the natural and manmade world. Nine galleries, located on three floors, will interpret a wide range of topics, including natural history, space and science, alternative energy, transportation, military technology, regional history, art, and 15,000 years of Native American culture. A children's gallery will provide opportunities for young visitors and their caregivers to play and explore and a mysterious room will reveal artifacts from cultures around the world in the enlightenment gallery. In addition, a temporary exhibits gallery will display traveling exhibitions.
A wide variety of exceptional collections will fill the galleries; from antique cars and Clovis points to dinosaurs and military equipment, including a World War II Stearman airplane spectacularly suspended upside down. Thrilling interactive experiences will include a giant walk-through human body with a slide that spans two floors; an earthquake simulator that will engage visitors' senses with the sounds, smells, and tremors of a major seismic event; an interactive starship that visitors can "drive" anywhere in the universe; a mythical storyteller who appears as a 3-D hologram; an aquarium filled with fish and plants from Tennessee's only natural lake; and a secret vault that houses cultural treasures from around the globe.
Following are renderings of some of the planned exhibits.
 
The Children's Gallery features a giant human replica with a slide from the top floor to the middle floor. Visitors descending the escalator to the ground floor will be welcomed by an Apatosaurus, one of many dinosaurs in the Natural History Gallery.
The Native American Gallery entrance features a Wooly Mammoth and begins the story about the first Americans.  
The Regional History Gallery features a 20,000 gallon Reelfoot Lake Aquarium and a Theater with an earthquake simulation that will stimulate all the visitors senses.  
The Starship Theater will thrill visitors with an incredibly realistic journey through space. The Enlightenment Gallery will feature unusual artifacts from cultures around the world. 
Vintage automobiles from each decade since the invention of the automobile will be featured in the Transportation Gallery as well as other forms of transportation.
The Military Gallery will display items from all the major wars including the Civil War. 
The Alternative Energy Gallery will provide opportunities to create electrical energy to illuminate the lights of a turbine replica as well as use solar energy to power model airplanes.
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