The 2023 Michael Collins Lifetime and Current Achievement Award has been awarded to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope team. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum presents this award annually to recognize outstanding contributions to aerospace science, technology, and history.
NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana said: “The dedication and creativity of the James Webb Space Telescope team is exemplary to the world. Through the relationships that make this project possible and represent the best of humanity, we can use Webb to better understand our universe.
The award was presented at a ceremony on March 23 at the museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
Chris Browne, Director of the Museum's John and Adrienne Mars, stated that the 2023 Collins Trophy winners contribute to a better understanding of people's place in the world. The James Webb Telescope also provided new information about the universe.
Webb, the largest and most powerful space scientific telescope ever built, was launched on December 25, 2021. The Webb team launched Webb's mission to study the infrared universe in July 2022.
Nicola Fox, deputy director of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, congratulated the James Webb Space Telescope team for pushing the boundaries to reveal our history through the oldest, most distant galaxies shining in the sky.
Breathtaking spectra and photographs have already fulfilled Webb's promise to usher in a new era in science.
Webb reveals some of the oldest galaxies ever seen, peers through dusty clouds to witness the formation of stars, and provides a never-before-depth view of the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system, thanks to optics that work nearly twice as well as the mission requires. The clearest image of Neptune's rings in decades was obtained by Webb, while unprecedented images of other planets in our solar system were also obtained. The team members who created, developed, and currently operate the Webb mission were honored with the Collins Trophy for outstanding achievement and significant contribution.
Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, we can study the time period when the first stars and galaxies of the universe were formed. According to Mark Clampin, Director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate, thousands of crew members worked tirelessly over the years to push the boundaries of technology to build this magnificent space telescope, making this incredible feat possible. After Clampin received the 23 Collins Cup on March 2023, Webb made a speech on behalf of his team.
The “Space Web” sculpture by Washington, DC-based artist John Safer is depicted in miniature on the trophy awarded to the winners. First awarded in 1985, the award was renamed in 2020 in honor of Michael Collins.
Webb, the world's leading space exploration observatory, is an international project run by NASA in partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). His design expanded the boundaries of what a space telescope could do, allowing us to see beyond our solar system, to distant planets orbiting other stars, and to probe the mysterious architecture and origins of our universe and our role in it.
Organizations such as the Space Foundation, the National Space Club and Foundation, Aviation Week, Bloomberg Businessweek, Popular Science, and TIME have recently praised the achievements of the Webb mission.
source: nasa.gov/feature
Günceleme: 26/03/2023 11:16