![Artist’s conception of the Johns Hopkins APL-led Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) NASA mission. EZIE consists of three SmallSats that will study the auroral electrojet, which are electrical currents flowing about 60 to 90 miles above the poles that link the beautiful aurora to the Earth’s magnetosphere, and which responds to solar activity and other drivers. This space weather mission is scheduled to launch in 2024. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201229_image1_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Dec 29, 2020
Johns Hopkins APL Space Weather Mission Selected by NASA
A Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory-led mission to explore electric currents in Earth’s atmosphere that link the aurora to our planet’s magnetosphere has been selected by NASA to move forward to a scheduled launch in 2024.
![Artist’s illustration of two Earth-sized planets passing in front of their parent red dwarf star.](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201218_image2_lg.jpg)
News
Dec 18, 2020
New Exoplanet Research Method Could Uncover Thousands of Habitable Worlds
A new technique to study the atmospheres of exoplanets that never pass in front of or behind their stars could be revolutionary for exoplanet research, opening up a huge population of potentially habitable planets that have been inaccessible to scientific study.
![MEGANE](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201216_image1_med.jpg)
Press Release
Dec 16, 2020
MEGANE Instrument Test Model Goes to Japan for Physical Tests and Design Review
The Johns Hopkins APL team building the MEGANE spectrometer for Japan’s MMX mission to the Martian moons recently shipped a test model of the instrument. The model will determine how well the instrument fits in the spacecraft design.
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Media Advisory
Dec 8, 2020
Exploration to the Extremes: Johns Hopkins APL Space Science at the 2020 AGU Fall Meeting
Scientists from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) are discussing new ideas and plans for NASA missions to the Sun, asteroids, ocean worlds and beyond during the American Geophysical Union’s 2020 Fall Meeting, running online until Dec. 17.
![Saturn and Enceladus](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201208_image1_cover.jpg)
Feature Story
Dec 8, 2020
Surer Signs of Life
If we ever think we’ve found signs of life elsewhere in the solar system, how would we convince ourselves that they’re real? A research team at APL is developing new palm-sized tools to help address that problem, targeting some of the strongest molecular signs of life, and even designing a way to sequence genetic material found on another world.
![John Piorkowski, a chief AI architect at APL, is chair of the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering’s new graduate program in artificial intelligence.](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201207_image1_lg.jpg)
News
Dec 7, 2020
New Johns Hopkins Graduate Program Boosts Leadership in Artificial Intelligence
The Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering launched a new online graduate program in artificial intelligence for working professionals this summer, and some 70 students are now enrolled, learning from AI engineers and scientists in one of the highest-demand career fields in the nation. The new program was formed in partnership with APL, as the Lab and the university advance their national leadership in the booming sector.
![Prosthetic limb touching a phantom hand](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201204_image1_cover.jpg)
Press Release
Dec 4, 2020
Enhanced Phantom Limb Perception Improves Prosthesis Function, Study Finds
APL researchers have shown that giving arm amputees sensory stimulation enhances the perception of their phantom hand and leads to more reliable and repeatable muscle movement signals, which are used to better control a prosthetic arm.
![Cybersecurity](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201203_image1_med.jpg)
Press Release
Dec 3, 2020
New Cyber Defense Feed Protects Government Systems in Live Trial Across Four States
In a live pilot led by Johns Hopkins APL, a new automated data feed that helps defend state and local government computer systems from cyberattacks and rapidly blocks threats across state lines reduced cyber defense time from some three days to less than three minutes in a successful pilot program across four states.
![APL’s Sheri Lewis, speaking at a press conference held by Howard County Government on Dec. 3, said “studies to better understand the potential spread of a disease in a timely fashion are critical tools to slow disease spread and save lives. In that vein, APL is eager to utilize the expertise of the Laboratory in our own community.” Credit: Howard County Government](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201203b_image1_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Dec 3, 2020
Johns Hopkins APL and Howard County Partner on Community Serology Study
APL is partnering with the Howard County Government to develop a study that will determine SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in the county population. The APL-led study will leverage the Laboratory’s expertise in health surveillance and data science to help provide Howard County leadership with a clearer picture of the virus’ spread through the county population.
![APL engineer Ryan Carter inspects a collimator segment before (right) and after (left) machining printed blank](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201130_image1_lg_1.jpg)
News
Nov 30, 2020
Additive Manufacturing Collaboration Yields Custom Collimator for Jupiter Mission
With the process to develop spacecraft instrument parts through additive manufacturing continuing to improve, APL is taking the plunge with its own additively manufactured metal part for an instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission.