The Applied Physics Laboratory has a 45-year
history of innovative space science and engineering. Since 1959, APL
engineers and scientists have designed, built, and launched 64 spacecraft
and over 150 instruments. We not only helped pioneer quick reaction spacecraft, invented
many of the techniques now standard in today's spacecraft,
but also develop entire space systems, such as the Navy Transit navigation system.
Several important systems conceived and developed at APL have been transferred
to industry for production.
We have extended our low-cost planetary mission methodology to such NASA missions as NEAR, ACE,
MESSENGER and New Horizons.
As a not-for-profit Research and Development division of the Johns Hopkins University, our vision is to advance the knowledge and use of space for the benefit of all humankind.
