Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum Lights Up New Exhibit with Cree LED Lighting

Cree has announced that LR24 recessed LED luminaires have been installed in the National Air and Space Museum. Designed for the new “Moving Beyond Earth” exhibit, the Cree LED lights replace high intensity discharge work lights, offering the high lumen output and efficacy required to work in the gallery.

The “Moving Beyond Earth” exhibit has 20-foot high ceilings and 5,000 square feet of space. Stable temperature and humidity levels are required to protect the significant number of historical artifacts featured in the exhibit. The Cree LED lights deliver uniform and bright light and weigh less than other fixtures, helping to reduce strain on the high ceilings.

Work lights, on for roughly eight hours per day, allow museum staff to clean the gallery and perform other maintenance during non-exhibit hours. Replacing the antiquated mercury vapor work lights with Cree LR24s can reduce maintenance costs and save energy. The LR24s are designed to produce little heat, saving on air conditioning needs and related costs, and emit virtually no ultraviolet rays, which can help protect the priceless objects featured in the exhibit.

The Cree LR24 luminaires underwent extensive life-cycle-cost business-case analysis that demonstrated an estimated 80 percent energy savings over the incumbent mercury vapor fixtures. Other evaluation criteria included maintenance costs, thermal/HVAC impact and ultraviolet emissions (which can degrade artifacts).

“The Air and Space Museum installation shows the versatility of our lighting products as well as the cost and environmental benefits associated with LEDs,” said Gary Trott, Cree vice president of market development. “And it’s a natural fit for American innovation to be behind the scenes of an exhibit that proudly displays American history.”

The “Moving Beyond Earth” exhibition explores the achievements and challenges of human spaceflight in the United States during the space-shuttle and space-station era through artifacts, immersive experiences and interactive computer stations. The exhibit includes a 12-foot tall space shuttle model, parts of the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as a model of the Ares launch vehicle.