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.
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. -
![Artist's rendering of Dragonfly]()
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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![Artist's impression of the Dragonfly rotorcraft-lander on the surface of Titan]()
Learn more about Dragonfly Team Soars Through Major Design ReviewNews
Mar 24, 2023Dragonfly Team Soars Through Major Design Review
Before it can fly its revolutionary rotorcraft over the organic dunes of Saturn’s moon Titan, NASA’s Dragonfly team needs to navigate several independent reviews to demonstrate the flight project is on track. Led by Johns Hopkins APL, the team recently passed the first of those evaluations, the Preliminary Design Review. -
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Learn more about Two of Uranus’ Moons May Harbor Active Oceans, Radiation Data SuggestsNews
Mar 16, 2023Two of Uranus’ Moons May Harbor Active Oceans, Radiation Data Suggests
New research using Voyager 2’s nearly 40-year-old particle data from Uranus suggests at least one of the planet’s moons is actively spewing material into the nearby space environment, possibly from a liquid water ocean beneath the surface. -
![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 DART Team Earns National Space Club and Foundation Aerospace AwardPress Release
Mar 9, 2023DART Team Earns National Space Club and Foundation Aerospace Award
For completing the world’s first planetary defense test mission and its significant impact on the aerospace field, the team behind NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission will receive the National Space Club and Foundation’s 2023 Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Award. -
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Learn more about ASPIRE Intern’s Project Selected for Space TestingNews
Mar 8, 2023ASPIRE Intern’s Project Selected for Space Testing
Allie Kang, who was an ASPIRE intern at Johns Hopkins APL, created an experiment that was selected by the Cubes in Space program for testing in space. -
![Image acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope before and after DART's impact]()
Learn more about NASA’s DART Data Validates Kinetic Impact as Planetary Defense MethodPress Release
Mar 1, 2023NASA’s DART Data Validates Kinetic Impact as Planetary Defense Method
Since NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) successfully impacted its target over five months ago, on Sept. 26, the DART team has been hard at work analyzing the data collected from the world’s first planetary defense test mission. Their latest findings were published in four papers in the journal Nature.
