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Press Release
Oct 1, 2008
MESSENGER Returns to Mercury
On October 6, for the second time in less than a year, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft will swoop just 200 kilometers (125 miles) above the cratered surface of Mercury, snapping hundreds of pictures and collecting a variety of other data from the planet as it gains a critical gravity assist that keeps the probe on track to become the first spacecraft ever to orbit the innermost planet beginning in March 2011.
![Crism Data Products](/sites/default/files/2023-02/080917_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Sep 17, 2008
APL Spectrometer's Coverage of Mars Continues to Grow
An online map showing a collection of high-resolution images from one of the most powerful spectrometers ever sent to the Red Planet continues to grow. The data come from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), which was built by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and is on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
![Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment](/sites/default/files/2023-02/080721_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Jul 21, 2008
APL-Led Team Wins NSF Grant to Develop New Observatory for Earth's Space Environment
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., has been awarded a major grant of $4 million by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for an experiment that will allow, for the first time, global and real-time space weather observations of near-Earth space.
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Press Release
Jul 18, 2008
NASA Lauds Two APL-Led Space Missions
Two APL-led missions recently received NASA Group Achievement awards and one team member was given the agency's Exceptional Public Service Medal.
![Orbit of asteroid 21619 Johnshopkins, on a plot of the inner solar system](/sites/default/files/2023-02/080717_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Jul 17, 2008
Asteroid Named for Johns Hopkins
The name that graces some of the world's top research, educational and medical institutions has a new place in space.
![This three-dimensional image of a trough in the Nili Fossae region of Mars shows a type of minerals called phyllosilicates (in magenta and blue hues) concentrated on the slopes of mesas and along canyon walls.](/sites/default/files/2023-02/080716_NiliFossaeTrough_hr.jpg)
Press Release
Jul 16, 2008
New Findings Show Diverse, Wet Environments on Ancient Mars
Mars once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life, according to two new studies based on data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and other instruments on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
![MSX spacecraft](/sites/default/files/2023-02/MSXillustrationRevised.jpg)
Press Release
Jul 16, 2008
Mission Complete: APL-Operated Midcourse Space Experiment Ends
After more than 12 years of successful operations and contributions to two diverse defense missions, the APL-built and -operated Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite is retiring.
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Press Release
Jul 9, 2008
Voyager 2 Finds Edge of Solar System more Complex than Predicted
After more than 30 years in space, NASA's Voyager 2 continues to make new discoveries and is upending our understanding of the processes at work at the very edges of the sun's influence. The spacecraft has found that exotic particles from outside the solar system dominate the dynamics of this distant region, and that it is far more complex than had been predicted.
![Color image of the Caloris basin and adjacent regions](/sites/default/files/2023-02/080703_caloris_color.jpg)
Press Release
Jul 3, 2008
MESSENGER Settles Old Debates and Makes New Discoveries at Mercury
Scientists have argued about the origins of Mercury's smooth plains and the source of its magnetic field for over 30 years. Now, analyses of data from the January 2008 flyby of the planet by the MESSENGER spacecraft have shown that volcanoes were involved in plains formation and suggest that its magnetic field is actively produced in the planet's core and is not a frozen relic.
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Press Release
Jun 20, 2008
APL's Jim McAdams Named AIAA Engineer of the Year
Jim McAdams of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., was named the 2008 Engineer of the Year by the Baltimore Section, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The award is presented to a member of the local chapter who has made a recent, significant contribution in the field of engineering.