Laporatoria: the Solar System on a school desk

A child picks up a tiny planet, puts it on the desk — and it grows to its real size. This is Laporatoria, Altairika's new line of mixed reality lessons.

Think of a typical astronomy lesson. The teacher shows planets in a textbook. A week later, most children remember very little.

Now picture this. A child puts on a headset and still sees the classroom around them. On the desk sits a small planet. The child picks it up the way they would pick up a ball, sets it down — and it grows to true scale.

Sputnik, our virtual guide, flies alongside the child and tells them about each planet. Numbers from the textbook turn into objects a child can walk around, turn over and compare.

Before the lesson starts, children play a short puzzle game. It teaches them to use their hands in virtual space. After that, their attention goes to the planets, not to the interface.

A 2026 systematic review in Frontiers in Psychology looked at 44 studies. It found that extended reality "can reduce cognitive load and improve learning outcomes" in physical science topics that rely on spatial thinking (Kenneally, Bentley & Willison, 2026).