Space Science and Engineering
From the Sun to Earth and beyond, Johns Hopkins APL is disrupting the future of space science and exploration
Since the dawn of the Space Age, Johns Hopkins APL has pushed the frontiers of space science, engineering, and exploration. We captured the first picture of Earth from space, invented navigation by satellite, and have dispatched spacecraft across the solar system from our Sun to Pluto and beyond, and we continue to shape the future by providing our nation with innovative and low-cost solutions to its space challenges.
We have designed and built more than 70 spacecraft and hundreds of specialized instruments. Combined, these spacecraft and instruments have visited every planet in our solar system and collected information that has expanded humankind's understanding of the universe.
Visit space.jhuapl.edu to learn more about APL’s work in space science and engineering.
Related Projects
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![Johns Hopkins APL's 60-foot dish antenna illuminated at night]()
Learn more about Preventing Traffic Jams in SpacePreventing Traffic Jams in Space
Providing greater situational awareness to enhance safety and security for those who plan to operate in cislunar space and on the Moon. -
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Learn more about Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) Technology DemonstrationDeep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) Technology Demonstration
APL is leading solutions for the Space Force with the DARC technology demonstrator program. -
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Learn more about DragonflyDragonfly
Dragonfly is a NASA mission that will explore Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Led by APL, this revolutionary rotorcraft-lander expedition will study the atmosphere, carbon-based chemistry, and geology of this cold yet Earthlike moon and ultimately advance our understanding of life’s chemical origins. -
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Learn more about Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP)Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP)
Set to launch in 2025, NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission will help researchers better understand what happens at the boundary of the heliosphere, where the Sun’s protective magnetic field ends. -
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Learn more about Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)
NASA’s first planetary defense mission—the APL-led Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)—is the first mission to demonstrate what’s known as the kinetic impactor technique, which involves striking an asteroid to shift its orbit and deflect it from Earth. -
![Artist's rendering of Europa Clipper]()
Learn more about Europa ClipperEuropa Clipper
The search for life in the solar system beyond Earth gets a boost when NASA’s Europa Clipper mission launches in the mid-2020s to explore under the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa. -
![Artist's rendering of New Horizons]()
Learn more about New HorizonsNew Horizons
Not even four years after NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft left Pluto and its moons in the rearview mirror—and revolutionized humankind’s view of these small, dynamic worlds on the edge of our solar system—the APL-built and -operated probe conducted a flyby of an ancient Kuiper Belt object, named Arrokoth, on New Year’s Day 2019. -
![Artist's rendering of Parker Solar Probe]()
Learn more about Parker Solar ProbeParker Solar Probe
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe—designed and built at APL—launched in August 2018 and has already traveled closer to the Sun than any spacecraft in history. -
![The twin CubeSat Assessment and Test, or CAT, satellites shown before launch at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.]()
Learn more about CubeSat Signal Preprocessor Assessment and Test (CAT)CubeSat Signal Preprocessor Assessment and Test (CAT)
APL has successfully established communications with two miniaturized satellites, or CubeSats, as part of a Lab-led flight demonstration known as CAT. -
![An image collage shows the various technologies and people, both on the ground and in space, susceptible to space weather. A coronal mass ejection and solar flare emerging from the Sun on the left illustrate some of the more extreme causes of space weather. (Credit: Johns Hopkins APL)]()
Learn more about Space Weather SensorsSpace Weather Sensors
Knowing the distribution and direction of energetic charged particles along a spacecraft’s trajectory is key to situational and satellite-health awareness, yet many missions resist flying particle sensors because the instruments can be heavy and expensive. -
![View from space of the Moon near Earth during a sunrise. (Credit: Shutterstock with NASA elements)]()
Learn more about Space Security and DefenseSpace Security and Defense
APL provides expertise to the Space Security and Defense program, a joint Department of Defense/Office of the Director of National Intelligence organization focused on creating a more resilient and enduring national security space capability. -
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Learn more about Spacebased Kill Assessment (SKA)Spacebased Kill Assessment (SKA)
APL developed and tested the sensors for the Missile Defense Agency’s SKA system, currently on orbit and executing planned test events.
Related News
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![The IMAP spacecraft returns to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.]()
Learn more about IMAP Mission Begins Integration and Testing at Johns Hopkins APL — Public Invited to Follow Along With LivestreamNews
Sep 20, 2023IMAP Mission Begins Integration and Testing at Johns Hopkins APL — Public Invited to Follow Along With Livestream
NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) is embarking on its yearlong integration and testing campaign, during which all of the instruments and components will be added to the spacecraft structure, tested to ensure they will survive the harsh environments of launch and space, and made ready to execute their mission. -
![Members of the DART team celebrate on Sept. 26, 2022, as images live-streamed from the spacecraft show it successfully impacted the asteroid Dimorphos.]()
Learn more about Seven Asteroids Are Named for DART Team MembersNews
Sep 19, 2023Seven Asteroids Are Named for DART Team Members
Seven scientists and engineers who made NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission a smashing success last year recently had asteroids named after them. -
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Learn more about Johns Hopkins APL and University of Maryland Partner to Advance Engineering and Science Research With a Focus on Space TechnologyPress Release
Sep 18, 2023Johns Hopkins APL and University of Maryland Partner to Advance Engineering and Science Research With a Focus on Space Technology
APL and the University of Maryland, College Park, signed a memorandum of understanding to create new opportunities for collaboration in research and development. -
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Learn more about Parker Probe’s Path Through Solar Blast Yields Unparalleled Space Weather InsightsNews
Sep 15, 2023Parker Probe’s Path Through Solar Blast Yields Unparalleled Space Weather Insights
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now become the first spacecraft ever to fly through a powerful solar explosion near the Sun. Passing along and through a coronal mass ejection last September, Parker provided an unparalleled view into these stellar explosions and an opportunity to study them early in their evolution. -
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Learn more about Parker Solar Probe ‘Sees’ Sun Sweep Up Interplanetary DustNews
Sep 14, 2023Parker Solar Probe ‘Sees’ Sun Sweep Up Interplanetary Dust
In 2022, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe soared gracefully through one of the most powerful coronal mass ejections (CMEs) ever recorded—not only an impressive feat of engineering but a huge boon for the scientific community. Parker’s journey through the CME is helping to prove a 20-year-old theory about the interaction of CMEs with interplanetary dust, with implications for space weather predictions.
