image: From airborne research to quantum navigation and space robotics, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) will showcase emerging defense technologies at the Sea-Air-Space (SAS) Conference and Exposition in booth 347, held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., April 6-9. As a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research, technical expertise, and technology development, NRL drives innovative advances from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. (U.S. Navy graphic)
Credit: Nicholas Pasquini
WASHINGTON, D.C. — From airborne research to quantum navigation and space robotics, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) will showcase emerging defense technologies at the Sea-Air-Space (SAS) Conference and Exposition in booth 347, held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., April 7-9.
NRL will present displays, videos, fact sheets and demonstrations to illustrate multiple capabilities including compact coronographs, data collection, and the recently commissioned hypersonic wind tunnel.
"The Naval Research Laboratory serves as a cornerstone of naval innovation at Sea-Air-Space, presenting transformative technologies that will shape the future of maritime superiority and meet the evolving needs of the naval community,” said NRL Director of Research Dr. Bruce G. Danly. “We are committed to delivering strategic advancements that empower our forces, ensuring they maintain an unparalleled edge in an increasingly complex global landscape across all domains."
As a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research, technical expertise, and technology development, NRL propels innovative advances from the seafloor to space and in the information domain.
"This exhibition showcases NRL's commitment to pioneering scientific breakthroughs and building productive partnerships that will continue to shape the trajectory of naval defense for generations to come," Danly said.
Visit booth #347 to talk with researchers, scientists, and engineers about NRL’s diverse projects, research, and advanced technologies, as well as to discuss collaboration opportunities.
Visit booth #347 to learn more about NRL technologies and capabilities:
Sea Technologies:
OmniGlobe: The OmniGlobe projects Earth’s environmental information in a natural environment, which is a sphere. The globe provides a clear picture of the environment from the atmosphere, oceans, and geophysical environment for users to understand interrelations in an accurate depiction.
Maritime Domain Awareness: PROTEUS is used to identify, query, and filter maritime vessels based on user-defined criteria and provides near-real time global maritime situational awareness.
Skyfish Outdoor Demonstration: Skyfish is a downward looking volumetric synthetic aperture sonar designed by the Naval Research Laboratory to detect, localize, and classify objects resting on or buried beneath the seafloor. The sonar leverages advanced processing techniques, access to unique features, and the exploitation of scattering physics to achieve high performance in the execution of its operations.
Quantum Inertial Navigation: Inertial navigation is a self-contained navigation technique in which measurements provided by accelerometers and gyroscopes are used to track the position and orientation of an object relative to a known starting point, orientation and velocity. Quantum inertial navigation is a new field of research and development that can increase inertial measurement accuracy by orders of magnitude.
Air Technologies:
Scientific Development Squadron ONE (VXS) 1: VXS-1 conducts airborne scientific experimentation and advanced technology development in worldwide operations supporting U.S. Navy and national science and technology (S&T) priorities and war fighting goals. Supporting broadly based, multidisciplinary programs across the full spectrum of scientific research and applied technologies, the focus is on the maritime application of new and improved airborne data collection techniques, experimental equipment, and system demonstration.
Variable-Speed Hypersonic Wind Tunnel: The NRL Hypersonic Wind Tunnel is a long-duration mid-size aerodynamics test facility capable of real-time altitude and speed variation. The range spans sea level to over 30km and Mach 1.5 to 5+ in a 12” x 12” x 24” test section.
Space Technologies:
Coronagraphs: The Compact Coronograph is a space-borne solar imaging sensor that continuously searches for massive, large-scale, and fast-moving concentrations of Earth-directed solar plasma. Analysis of CCOR image data is used predict geomagnetic storm severity and onset times. The Narrow Field Imager (NFI) is a compact, externally occulted coronagraph. Launched and deployed in March 2025, NFI will image the transition of the Sun’s atmosphere to the solar wind to understand how the Sun generates the space plasma environment.
LARADO: Light-sheet Anomaly Resolution and Debris Observation, and its space-based design concept, uses satellite and laser technology to detect orbital debris in sizes that currently are not detectable from the ground.
Spaceflight Instruments to Spacecraft: The Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST) has facilities dedicated to the research, design and development of spaceflight instruments, systems, and spacecraft. Flight hardware development ranges in size and complexity from card and component level items up to national security space launch (NSSL) class instruments and spacecraft.
Space Robotics and Satellite Servicing: NRL has spent more than two decades working to transition unmanned space robotic satellite servicing from a concept to a fielded national capability. Robotic servicing promises to usher in a new era of increasingly resilient on-orbit operations by providing the ability to inspect, reposition, repair, and upgrade existing spacecraft. Throughout the development phase, NRL has focused on understanding the interactions between all of the unique elements that must work together to make satellite servicing a reality.
Space Solar Power Beaming: Allows for the transfer of energy without moving mass. Microwave power beaming is the efficient, point-to-point transfer of electrical energy across free space by a directive microwave beam. The goal is to capture the abundant sunlight that exists in space and send the energy to where it is needed on Earth.
Sea-Air-Space is the premier maritime exposition in the U.S. and brings together the defense industrial base, government officials, private-sector companies and key military decision-makers from the sea services for an opportunity to innovate, educate, and connect.
About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL is located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.
For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@nrl.navy.mil.
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