Archived articles

Applied physics laboratory

Illustration shows a hot sun in a green/blue sky, and the two hands holding an abstract diagram of a paint-by-numbers-shape
Pack the sunblock
Published Fall 2017
The Parker Solar Probe, a mission first proposed in 1958, will use Whiting School heat shield and APL mission control to unlock the mysteries of the sun / Johns Hopkins Magazine
Three operators on boat
APL demonstrates high-bandwidth communications capability for ships
Published Aug 25, 2017
Free space optical system could provide alternative to traditional radio frequency system
Two drone devices with multiple rotors fly across a brown, rocky, barren surface, representing the surface of Titan
Space exploration
Dragonfly effect
Published Aug 23, 2017
APL proposal would use drone technology to explore possibility of life on Saturn's largest moon, Titan
Yellow cube spacecraft with two large black rectangular wings
Planetary defense
NASA plans asteroid deflection test
Published July 3, 2017 Video
JHU's Applied Physics Lab will manage test of technique designed to prevent Earth impact
An artist's rendering shows a dark spacecraft hurtling towards an orange ball of fire and gas
Mission to the Sun
Cool power
Published June 23, 2017
As the APL-built solar probe heads toward its historic encounter with the sun, revolutionary technologies will power and cool the craft
Image depicts the atmosphere of Jupiter with dozens of circular features
Returns of the JEDI
Scientists marvel at Juno mission images
Published May 26, 2017
Spacecraft's flight to Jupiter, with APL-built instrument on board, is mission of 'pure discovery'
Emerging tech
Virtual reality goggles help kids understand prosthetics
Published May 26, 2017
The children of servicemen and women get a crash course in prosthetics in new APL program at Walter Reed medical center
Technology
Typing with your mind?
Published April 19, 2017
JHU's Applied Physics Lab works with Facebook on technology that could allow users to type using only their thoughts
Reclaimed touch
Published Spring 2017
APL is making the next generation of prosthetic limbs that not only act on thought command, but also send signals back to the brain / Johns Hopkins Magazine
Image depicts Pluto in brown and gray tones
Status update?
Make Pluto a planet again
Published March 16, 2017
Planetary scientist offers a geophysical definition of planets—which would expand the number in our solar system from eight to about 110