The Maryland Science Center plans at least $10 million in upgrades over the next two years, the biggest makeover in two decades for the Inner Harbor’s oldest attraction.

The interactive museum is looking to add new exhibits, including one on space exploration, and to enhance existing ones, including refreshing technology in its popular dinosaur display.

It plans to transform a brick harborside plaza into a sloping lawn, an educational spot designed to connect to green space along the waterfront promenade. The center will expand community-based programs across the state and, for the first time, offer discounted entrance fees for low-income visitors.

“It’s our time to shine,” said Mark Potter, the science center’s president and CEO. “We’ve been serving the people of Maryland for the past 50 years with our special brand of science. We’re excited to go into the future and we want to do it in a big way.”

Renovations are designed to coincide with the museum’s 50th anniversary in 2026. They represent the biggest investment since the opening of the Dinosaur Hall expansion in 2004, Potter said.

The planned changes come at a time when controversial plans are underway to remake the more than 40-year-old, neighboring Harborplace pavilions into a mixed development of housing, shops and offices. Plans by developer MCB Real Estate hit a snag recently after an Anne Arundel County judge ruled last month that a ballot question needed to approve the project is unconstitutional. Baltimore City government and MCB are appealing.

Science center officials, who expected to unveil the plans Wednesday, said goals leading up to the anniversary of the 1976 opening included creating new experiences, shoring up the building’s infrastructure and eliminating barriers to participation in both center visits and outside programs.

Potter said the science center has raised about $7.2 million toward its initial $10 million investment and hopes to exceed that amount through a capital campaign, allowing it to expand upon existing plans.

Funds so far have come from both public and private sources, including a state grant that paid for heating and ventilation upgrades, the Kahlert Foundation, the Northrop Grumman Foundation and the Constellation Foundation.

The Kahlert Foundation, a Carroll County-based family organization that focuses on education, youth and STEM programs, among other areas, donated $1 million toward expansion of the center’s maker space and to support free field trips by Maryland students and teachers. The foundation has supported the science center for about five years.

“The science center just sort of falls in the perfect sweet spot of the Kahlert Foundation’s mission,” said Ellen Finnerty Myers, the foundation’s executive director and a member of the science center’s board. “Not every state has a science center, and we’re lucky we have one to represent the region.”

Laurie Schwartz, president of the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, said planned exterior renovations will help enhance outdoor activities at the Inner Harbor at a time when other stakeholders are making similar investments.

Plans call for the harbor plaza and entrance to be renovated. Hard surfaces will be replaced with reclaimed paving and native plants, creating a shade canopy along a newly installed sloping lawn. Pathway markers will introduce visitors to Maryland scientists and discoveries.

“It will accomplish so much for not only the Science Center, but for the Inner Harbor, adding another free amenity to draw people back to the harbor,” Schwartz said.

She said those plans will complement the National Aquarium’s $14 million “Harbor Wetland” outdoor exhibit, a floating park between Pier 3 and Pier 4 that’s free to the public and that opened in August.

“For the harbor as a whole they’re two bookends of free, environmental education assets,” she said.

The science center space will add to what will become continuous, family-oriented green space from the Visitor’s Center around the promenade to the Rusty Scupper, Schwartz said.

That includes the Waterfront Partnership’s recent improvements to Rash Field Park. The partnership expects to break ground before the end of the year on an $18 million, second phase of park redevelopment, creating a more than 5-acre area that will include a garden, kayak launch and multipurpose fields and courts for soccer, frisbee, pickleball and beach volleyball.

Additional science center renovations to be announced Wednesday include:

Space Exhibit:A 5,000-square-foot exhibit on space exploration is expected to open late next year, replacing the Our Place in Space exhibit on the second floor. Interactive components will focus on concepts such as infinity, distance, speed, force, gravity and revolution versus rotation. Visitors will be able to simulate launching and landing a spacecraft, manipulate robotic arms to perform tasks in space and explore the body’s reaction to the pull of gravity.

The Shed: The Shed makerspace will double in size and move to the second floor gallery overlooking the promenade. It will feature 36 workstations on topics such as introductions to tools, activities that blend art, craft, science and engineering, and creating prototypes for inventions.

Dinosaur Mysteries: The center’s 12 huge dinosaurs will remain, but the display will be upgraded with new technology, graphics, lighting and hands-on components. Content will also be revised to reflect new understanding of how dinosaurs lived.

The renovations also include an expansion of a demonstration stage on the third floor to accommodate more people. New programs include Access Science, expected to serve up to 7,500 visitors a year, which will make $5 admission tickets available to anyone with a Maryland SNAP or Maryland WIC card.

The center will continue offering free field trips for students and teachers and plans to expand a program in which it hosts hands-on STEM education community events.

The museum reaches more than 400,000 people each year, both at the Inner Harbor and in community programs, Potter said. He said the science center has rebounded from closures during the pandemic to about 90% of pre-Covid attendance.