American Innovation™ $1 Coin – Maryland

The American Innovation $1 Coin representing Maryland honors the Hubble Space Telescope.

Developed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and launched in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope is one of the largest and most versatile space telescopes. It is also the first designed to be serviced in space by astronauts. Teams at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the Space Telescope Science Institute–both located in Maryland–manage the telescope.

Positioned above the distortion of Earth’s atmosphere, Hubble has an unobstructed view of the universe. Its four main instruments observe in the ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Data transmitted by Hubble has helped refine estimates of the age of the universe, trace the growth of galaxies, identify planets beyond our solar system, study the planets within our solar system, identify black holes, observe the birth and death of stars, and many other scientific discoveries.