In honor of the United States Navy’s 250th birthday, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is celebrating five Navy innovations that became groundbreaking technologies and shape the lives of people around the world.

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), working with Florida International University’s (FIU) Global Forensic and Justice Center, have demonstrated a new method for detecting trace levels of fentanyl using a silicon nanowire (SiNW) array that concentrates chemical vapors for handheld detection instruments. The breakthrough offers first responders a faster, safer way to identify fentanyl and related synthetic opioids without direct contact with the drug.

The American Physical Society (APS) selected John Lyons, Ph.D., a physical scientist in the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Materials Science and Technology Division, as a 2025 APS Fellow for his fundamental contributions to the understanding and design of wide-band-gap semiconductors using first-principles methods, including strategies for semiconductor doping and for understanding and controlling exciton fine structure.

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have a powerful new tool to accelerate discovery in quantum materials for advanced electronics. The laboratory recently completed installation of a state-of-the-art “cluster system” that allows researchers to grow and analyze materials at the atomic level, all without ever removing samples from its ultra-clean environment.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) marked the retirement of Joseph Thomason on Sept. 5, recognizing his extraordinary 62-year career in the Radar Division that helped shape modern over-the-horizon (OTH) radar capabilities for the Navy and the nation.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Compact Coronagraph-2 (CCOR-2) launched at 7:30 a.m. EDT on September 24 onboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) observatory from NASA – Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida.

NASA is set to launch the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory mission in September 2025, honoring the late Dr. George R. Carruthers, whose groundbreaking work at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) transformed how we observe Earth and space.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), in partnership with and with funding support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics, has reached a historic milestone in satellite servicing technology, completing on Sept. 5 a critical round of space-readiness testing on a robotic spacecraft designed to extend and upgrade satellites already in orbit.

A U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) research team successfully conducted the first reinforcement learning (RL) control of a free-flyer in space on May 27.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in conjunction with the Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office (E2O); the Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment; Aerostar; and Lockheed Martin conducted a technical demonstration held at Outlying Landing Field Seagle in Twentynine Palms, California, May 19-21, aiming to develop a technology for Navy vessels to "see over the horizon" using a combination of stratospheric high-altitude balloons (HABs) and unmanned aircraft, both included novel energy solutions.