Dwayne Brown/Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726/202-358-0321
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov
Mary Blake
Northrop Grumman Corporation, Falls Church, Va.
310-812-6291
mary.blake@ngc.com
RELEASE: 11-364
MIKULSKI OPENS WEBB TELESCOPE EXHIBIT AT MARYLAND SCIENCE CENTER
BALTIMORE - NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver joined U.S. Sen.
Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) during a dedication of a permanent exhibit
of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to the Maryland Science Center
in Baltimore Wednesday at an event featuring national political,
science and technology luminaries. The exhibit is a donation to the
museum by the Northrop Grumman Corporation of Falls Church, Va.
"I believe in the science and innovation that have made America a
world leader in discovery. There is no other mission planned either
by NASA or any other space agency that can achieve the scientific
goals of the James Webb Space Telescope," said Sen. Mikulski,
Chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations
Subcommittee that funds NASA and staunch supporter of the Webb
telescope. "In Maryland, science is jobs. Scientific innovation
creates jobs and economic growth through innovative products and new
businesses. The James Webb Space Telescope will keep America in the
lead for science and technology and inspire students to learn
science, technology, engineering and math to become the scientists,
inventors and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. This exhibit gives
Marylanders the opportunity to see American scientific ingenuity up
close."
The permanent Webb telescope display will feature a 1/20th scale model
of the telescope, large graphic panels explaining the science behind
the Webb mission and a continually updated multimedia show provided
by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
"Hubble has made it possible for us to rewrite science textbooks as we
uncovered vast new areas of knowledge and witnessed phenomena never
before seen," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. "Webb will
build on this knowledge and help us reveal the unknown. It is also
important to remember that while these missions occur in space, the
investments made, and the jobs created to support these missions,
happen right here on Earth and right here in Maryland. NASA has
always been an engine of economic growth and job creation and the
Webb Telescope is just the latest example."
The event featured three Maryland Nobel Prize winners: John Mather,
recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics and Webb telescope
senior project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md.; Adam Riess, recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in
Physics, professor of astronomy and physics at the Johns Hopkins
University, and a senior member of the Space Telescope Science
Institute; and Riccardo Giacconi, recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize
in Physics and university professor at the Johns Hopkins University.
Also attending was John Grunsfeld, deputy director of the Space
Telescope Science Institute and a former astronaut who participated
in three spaceflights to service Hubble.
"The spark that ignites the curiosity in Nobel Prize winners may well
begin right here at the Maryland Science Center," said Jeff Grant,
vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman Space Systems
Division. "We hope this new exhibit about the James Webb Space
Telescope will provide such inspiration. For 21 years, the Hubble
Space Telescope has altered our understanding of the universe. Twenty
years from now, the future scientists we inspire today will be using
the James Webb Space Telescope to rewrite even more textbooks."
The Webb telescope will feature an ultra-light weight 21-foot
(6.5-meter) diameter primary mirror and a tennis-court-sized
five-layer sunshield to enable its infrared instruments to collect
very faint images of star and galaxy formation billions of years ago.
The telescope will add to observations by earlier space telescopes,
and stretch the frontiers of science with its discoveries. A
life-size model displayed at the museum since Oct.14 shows the
telescope's complexity and how the observatory will enable the Webb
telescope's unique mission.
Successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the Webb telescope is the
world's next-generation space observatory. It is the most powerful
space telescope ever built. Webb will observe the most distant
objects in the universe, provide images of the very first galaxies
ever formed and study planets around distant stars. The Webb
telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Canadian Space Agency.
For more information about the Webb telescope, visit:
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