News Releases

Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, researchers from The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) have probed the bright core of Comet 17P/Holmes, which, to the delight of sky watchers, mysteriously brightened by nearly a millionfold in a 24-hour period beginning Oct. 23, 2007.

Developed in Maryland, this technology, known as the Critical Infrastructure Inspection Management System (CIIMS), will enable State Police flight crews to check important structures and locations from the air.

The Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 team — an international collaboration led by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. — was honored with a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award at a ceremony Oct. 10, at the Hearst Tower in New York.

An Earth-like planet is likely forming 424 light-years away in a star system called HD 113766, say astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

Ever spilled your drink on an airline because of turbulence? Researchers on both sides of the Atlantic are finding new ways to understand the phenomenon—both in Earth's atmosphere and in that of Saturn's moon Titan, aided by data gathered from the Cassini-Huygens probe.

Boaters may soon have a new safety device to carry aboard their vessels—the Automated Integrated Distress Device (AIDD), invented by George Borlase, a mechanical engineer with The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md. Should mariners get into trouble, the device would automatically fire flares and flash a strobe to alert boaters within an 8-mile radius that help is needed.

Glen H. Fountain, of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., has won the 2007 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics von Braun Award for Excellence in Space Program Management.

Dr. Ralph Alpher, a physicist who conducted critical research that lead to the Big Bang theory while at the fledgling Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., has received the National Medal of Science—the nation's highest science honor—for his unprecedented work in nucleosynthesis, the prediction that universe expansion leaves radiation, and the model for the Big Bang theory.

Scientists who got an unprecedented look at a disintegrating comet were surprised to find the comet's chemistry was consistent throughout — in contrast to popular ideas that a comet's outside is chemically different than its inside.

As Technical Direction Agent for the Aegis BMD program, APL performs a wide range of activities before, during and after flight tests including performing preflight predictions of the Aegis BMD combat system's performance, and defining mission and target scenarios.