Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, known as APL, is a not for profit, United States Navy sponsored, university affiliated research center headquartered in Laurel, Maryland, established in 1942, with more than 8,800 employees across a 461 acre campus. Beyond its national security work, APL has built and operated many NASA spacecraft, including the NEAR Shoemaker, MESSENGER, New Horizons and Parker Solar Probe missions, and manages spacecraft integration and environmental testing facilities for the Space Exploration Sector of NASA. It led the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which demonstrated planetary defense by kinetic impact in 2022, and directs the upcoming Dragonfly rotorcraft lander mission to the Saturn moon Titan.