The Johns Hopkins University is a research university with campuses in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Its mission is to educate its students and cultivate their capacity for life-long learning, to foster independent and original research, and to bring the benefits of discovery to the world. The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is a division of the university co-equal to the nine schools, but with a nonacademic, research-based mission. APL supports national security and also pursues space science, exploration of the Solar System and other civilian research and development.