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Space Department

APL's Space Department produces spaceflight hardware and software systems and conducts space science and engineering for both civilian and military customers. With a record of successfully designing, building, and operating over 64 spacecraft and 200 instruments, our ability to develop hardware and software for missions of varying complexities within tight schedules and budgets is well recognized.

The Space Department's spaceflight hardware capabilities are complemented by a robust science research program. Our expertise in space science research involves solar-terrestrial physics, astrophysics, planetary magnetospheres, planetary geology, solar physics, and related space research such as oceanography and atmospheric and ionospheric physics.

Science research is conducted by a variety of spaceflight and ground-based instruments in collaboration with institutions in the United States and around the world. Our instrumentation capabilities include energetic particle and magnetic field experiments, ground- and space-based radars, and a wide range of remote sensing imagers of the ocean, atmosphere, Sun, and planetary bodies.

The MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) mission to Mercury is an example of APL's cost-effective approach to space exploration. MESSENGER will conduct an in-depth study of the Sun's closest neighbor and the least explored of the terrestrial planets. After launch on August 3, 2004, MESSENGER's voyage includes three flybys of Mercury in 2008 and 2009 and a yearlong orbit of Mercury starting in March 2011.

Selected Programs

• Lunar Robotic Precursor Mission
• New Horizons Mission to Pluto
• MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging)
• TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics)
• NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) Shoemaker
• ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer)
• MSX (Midcourse Space Experiment)

Sample Work Groups