Stories

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured a series of visible light images of Venus, and this data from the Johns Hopkins APL-built spacecraft is adding to scientists’ understanding of the planet likened as Earth’s twin.

A new analysis examining elemental data from a NASA mission more than a decade ago pins down comets as the source of water ice and volatile elements near the Moon’s South Pole. The finding sheds light on another piece of the Earth-Moon system’s history and underscores the use of the Moon’s ices for revealing that story.

A new NASA mission led by Johns Hopkins APL researcher and engineer James Mason will use specially developed imaging technology to capture the first complete images and video of some of the Sun’s most powerful explosions and unveil the physical mechanisms that drive them.

Two planetary scientists from Johns Hopkins APL’s Space Exploration Sector were selected to join NASA’s VIPER mission, the agency’s first-ever lunar rover that will explore the Moon’s south pole and investigate the water ice there.

An analysis of large salt deposits on Mars, led by Johns Hopkins APL researcher Ellen Leask, indicates that ponds of liquid water existed on the red planet for about a billion years longer than previously believed.

Robert D. Braun has been announced as the next head of APL’s Space Exploration Sector. Braun has more than 30 years of experience as a space systems engineer, technologist and organizational leader. He will guide the efforts in both civilian space exploration as well as national security related space programs.

A Johns Hopkins APL team recently completed work on an instrument that will be critical to determining the habitability of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons that’s most likely to harbor life.

Just two weeks after liftoff, NASA’s DART spacecraft, which Johns Hopkins APL designed, built and manages, opened the door to its DRACO camera and returned its first star-filled images. The images will help researchers calibrate for DART’s ultimate goal of crashing into an asteroid.

Exactly 20 years ago today, NASA’s TIMED mission launched from the California coast on a journey to unveil new secrets about the upper climes of Earth’s atmosphere. Developed in part by Johns Hopkins APL, the mission’s unrivaled 20-year dataset has provided crucial insights about space weather, Earth’s climate and the evolution of planetary atmospheres.

As humanity becomes more reliant on satellite technology for key aspects of society on Earth, space weather continues to play an increasingly important role in the success of our species. The recent gap analysis report led by Johns Hopkins APL researchers found that we can significantly improve our space weather prediction capabilities with current technology.