The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory oversaw the delivery and preparation for launch of its twin 6U CubeSat satellites on Oct. 15 at Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay in the United Kingdom (U.K.). CIRCE is a joint NRL-United Kingdom Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) experiment designed to measure the Earth’s ionosphere and particle radiation environment from a circular orbit at 555 km (344 miles) altitude in a lead/trail formation 300-500 km (186-310 miles) apart in the same orbit plane.

Engineers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST) recently completed robotic payload component level testing for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program.

Two scientists, Jeremy T. Robinson, a Materials Research Scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C., and Woodruff T. Sullivan III, a former summer student at NRL in the 1960s, came to the consensus of crafting a nano sundial. Nine months later, the invented sundial apparatus was awarded a provisional patent “MicroDial- Miniaturized apparatus for solar time keeping” and won an international contest for the "world’s smallest sundial."

John Michopoulos, Ph.D., U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Computational Multiphysics Systems Laboratory head, received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Computers and Information in Engineering (CIE) Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jordan Stone, Ph.D., an astrophysicist in NRL’s Remote Sensing Division is part of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s early release science team for direct observations of exoplanets that released the observations of a super-Jupiter exoplanet, HIP 65426 b, using JWST near-infrared camera and mid-infrared instrument.

An experiment prepared by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) will launch as part of NASA’s scheduled Artemis I mission to orbit the moon. The experiment will use samples of fungi to investigate effects of the deep space radiation environment outside of Earth’s protective magnetosphere.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), with the help of Defense Media Activity, is launching a three-part series highlighting the importance of quantum research for the 21st century U.S. Navy.

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory scientists launched the second Strontium Iodide Radiation Instrument (SIRI-2) instrument in December 2021 onboard Space Test Program (STP) Sat-6. SIRI-2, a gamma-ray spectrometer, will demonstrate the performance of europium-doped strontium iodide gamma ray detection technology with sufficient active area for Department of Defense (DoD) operational needs.

After countless hours of preparation, flight testing, and launching, 23 student teams from universities and colleges around the world participated in the CanSat Aerospace Competition at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia, June 11-12, 2022.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Centennial celebration culminates with the 100th anniversary of its founding on July 2, 2023.