2022-07-18
Johns Hopkins APL Europa Clipper Team Marks a Month of Major Milestones
In June, the APL Europa Clipper team delivered two science instruments and a radiation sensor to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, marking the Lab’s latest significant contributions to NASA’s historic mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
2022-07-12
EZIE Mission Jets into Next Development Stage
NASA has given Johns Hopkins APL the green light to begin detailed designs on the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) — a SmallSat mission to characterize the electric currents that link Earth’s aurora to the planet’s magnetosphere.
2022-06-22
Deep-Space Landslide Yields an Avalanche of Insight on Asteroid Structure
By studying a landslide on the asteroid Bennu, a team of scientists led by Johns Hopkins APL’s Mark Perry has gained new insight into the surface strength — or weakness — of so-called rubble-pile asteroids, the loose collections of smaller rocks and dust held together by their own gravity.
2022-06-21
CRISM Team Closing Operations with New Global Map of Mars
In a last hurrah for an imager entering its final months of operation, the CRISM team at Johns Hopkins APL is releasing a new near-global map of Mars produced by the instrument. The first of what will be thousands of pieces colored to convey the mineral composition of the Martian surface were released on Wednesday.
2022-06-17
NASA’s DART Captures One of Night Sky’s Brightest Stars
On its journey to collide with an asteroid in the world’s first planetary defense test mission, NASA’s DART captured images of the nearby and very bright star Vega in a test of how light scatters off of the spacecraft’s camera DRACO and other internal parts.
2022-06-17
NASA’s DART Snaps Vega While Journeying to Didymos
On its journey to collide with an asteroid in the world’s first planetary defense test mission, NASA’s DART captured images of the nearby and very bright star Vega in a test of how light scatters off of the spacecraft’s camera DRACO and other internal parts.
2022-06-13
Why Phaethon Turned Blue — and How Other Small Sun-Diving Bodies Might, Too
Asteroid Phaethon’s bizarrely blue color has long been a planetary science puzzle, but a study co-authored by Johns Hopkins APL’s Carey Lisse may have finally untangled the chemical process that gave the asteroid its azure hue.
2022-06-07
Johns Hopkins APL Delivers Propulsion Module for NASA Mission to Europa
After years of design and construction, two cross-country trips and thousands of hours of labor, APL has delivered NASA's Europa Clipper propulsion module — the spacecraft's “workhorse" — and its radio frequency module to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for integration with the remainder of the spacecraft.
2022-05-27
Johns Hopkins APL Engineer Takes Helm of NASA Solar Sail Concept
NASA is investing in the development of a new solar sail concept under the agency’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program, which will provide the project with $2 million over the next two years. Space Exploration Sector engineer Amber Dubill will now take the lead on the project.
2022-05-24
Signs of Success: At Mission’s Midpoint, Parker Solar Probe Marks Amazing Achievements
Nearly four years after launch, Parker Solar Probe has made significant inroads toward achieving its main science goals — and it continues to break records and capture first-of-its-kind measurements of the Sun.