Projects and Missions

Sailors aboard the USS Bataan turned the additive manufacturing at sea concept into reality after successfully fabricating and installing a stainless steel sprayer plate to repair the USS Bataan’s ballasting system. The machinists used a hybrid manufacturing system that was developed and installed on the ship with support from APL and Naval Sea Systems Command, allowing the ship to avoid costly repairs and resume operations.

APL envisioned, built, and successfully demonstrated NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration, which proved the capability of a kinetic impactor to deflect an asteroid. This revolutionary low-cost spacecraft used APL-developed and modified air and missile defense algorithms to autonomously target and intercept an asteroid almost 7 million miles from Earth, changing its orbit period by 32 minutes, and providing humanity with a proven solution for planetary defense.

APL is making critical contributions to the development of cislunar infrastructure to ensure our nation’s security interests are protected, support development of a sustainable cislunar presence, and advance pioneering science.

APL researchers have established new, scalable methods of developing battery- and solar-powered fibers, making it theoretically possible for electrical energy to be harvested from, and stored in, the clothing people wear.