![Pluto](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20200714b_image1_cover_alt.jpg)
Feature Story
Jul 14, 2020
Five Years After the Flyby, 10 Cool Things We Know About Pluto
Five years ago today, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft — designed, built and operated by Johns Hopkins APL — conducted the first close-up exploration of Pluto. Since then, scientists have uncovered numerous surprising, revolutionary and downright unbelievable things about Pluto and its moons that have transformed our view of these distant icy worlds.
![Johns Hopkins APL Enlists States for Cyber Defense Technology Pilot Program](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20200713_image1_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Jul 13, 2020
Johns Hopkins APL Enlists States for Cyber Defense Technology Pilot Program
As cyber threats to the nation grow and adversaries move with increasing stealth, APL and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are teaming up to help state and local governments enhance their online defenses.
![Engineers from APL's Space Exploration Sector](/sites/default/files/2023-01/apl-propels-space_cover_2.jpg)
Feature Story
Jul 2, 2020
Staying Aligned During COVID-19: APL Propels Space Missions Forward
As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches on and a cautious reopening of the state continues, APL staff members remain uniquely focused on hitting their targets. In an unprecedented situation, teams in the Lab’s Space Exploration Sector and Research and Exploratory Development Department are evolving and adapting to ensure the Lab’s critical work remains on time and up to snuff.
![Porter had taught different variations of an oceanography course at the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering since 1989. In 2017, however, it was decided the course should transition to online instruction — a change to which Porter initially bristled.](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20200702b_image1_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Jul 2, 2020
David Porter Chalks Up a Blackboard Award for Online Teaching
David Porter, a longtime chief scientist in Johns Hopkins APL’s Force Projection Sector, was selected as a 2020 Blackboard Catalyst Award winner in the Teaching and Learning category for his graduate-level online course, Introduction to Oceanography, in the Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals (EP) program.
![The near side of the Moon](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20200701b_image1_lg.jpg)
News
Jul 1, 2020
New Research Points to Moon Being More Metallic Than Previously Thought
Radar data from the Miniature Radio Frequency instrument aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter suggests a trove of metal-rich minerals lies deeper below the Moon’s surface, according to a recent study that includes Johns Hopkins APL researcher Wes Patterson. The finding could resolve a dilemma about the Moon’s formation.
![](/themes/custom/jhu_apl/default_thumbnail.png)
Press Release
Jun 30, 2020
FDA’s M. Khair ElZarrad to Keynote Session II of Johns Hopkins APL’s National Health Virtual Speaker Series
M. Khair ElZarrad, the Deputy Director of the Office of Medical Policy in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration, will be the featured speaker in the July installment of APL’s National Health Virtual Speaker Series.
![Image of Ryugu (left) by Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft and of Bennu (right) by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20200625b_image1_lg.jpg)
News
Jun 25, 2020
Top-Shaped Asteroids Could Be Chips Off the Same Block
Asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, two top-shaped asteroids with orbits around the Sun similar to Earth’s, may stem from the rupture of a single, common parent asteroid, according to a study published May 27 in Nature Communications.
![APL has collaborated with Purdue University on the Boundary Layer Transition (BOLT) Experiments, partnering with Purdue professors, researchers and graduate students on the project and utilizing Purdue’s unique facilities and wind tunnels.](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20200625_image1_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Jun 25, 2020
Johns Hopkins APL and Purdue University Establish Partnership Focused on Hypersonics
APL and Purdue University have signed an agreement that will allow both institutions to harness one another’s capabilities and expertise in the field of hypersonics.
![](/themes/custom/jhu_apl/default_thumbnail.png)
Press Release
Jun 24, 2020
Johns Hopkins APL Ranks Among Insider Pro and Computerworld’s ‘Best Places to Work in IT’
Making the list for the third consecutive year, APL held its No. 11 ranking among large organizations and is ranked second overall for both training and career development.
![In 2022, a binary asteroid system — an asteroid with its own moon — will be the target of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the first full-scale demonstration of an asteroid deflection technology for planetary defense.](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20200623_image1_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Jun 23, 2020
NASA’s First Planetary Defense Mission Target Gets a New Name
Nearly two decades ago, a near-Earth asteroid was discovered to have a moon and the binary system was given the name “Didymos” — Greek for “twin,” a loose description of the larger main body and the smaller orbiting moon, which became unofficially known as Didymos B.