Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in La Cañada Flintridge, near Los Angeles, California, USA, builds and operates unmanned spacecraft for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). JPL is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed and operated by Caltech under a contract with NASA. JPL-run projects include the Galileo Jupiter mission and the Mars rovers, including the 1997 Mars Pathfinder and the twin 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers. To date, JPL has sent unmanned missions to every planet except Pluto. In addition, JPL has also done extensive mapping missions of the Earth. JPL also manages the world-wide Deep Space Network, with facilities in California's Mojave Desert, in Spain near Madrid and in Australia near Canberra.

Almost all of the 177 acre (0.7 km²) of the U.S. Government/NASA owned property that makes up the JPL campus is actually located in the city of La Cañada Flintridge, California, but the JPL main gate and several buildings are in Pasadena, so it maintains a Pasadena address (4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109). There are approximately 5,000 full-time Caltech employees, and typically a few thousand additional contractors work there on any given day. NASA also has a resident office at the facility staffed by federal managers who oversee JPL's activities and work for NASA. There are also some Caltech graduate students, college student interns and co-op students. The lab has an open house once a year on a Saturday and Sunday in May, when the public is invited to tour the facilities and see live demonstrations of JPL science and technology. More limited private tours are also available throughout the year if scheduled well in advance. Thousands of schoolchildren from around Southern California and elsewhere visit the lab every year.

History

JPL dates back to the 1930s, when Caltech professor Theodore von Kármán began running rocket propulsion experiments on the site. JPL was co-founded with rocket scientist Jack Parsons, which has led some to affectionately refer to it as the "Jack Parsons Lab." (Despite its name, JPL had not been concerned with work on turbojets or other air-breathing jet engines: Rocket engines were often called "jets" or "ramjets" before the mid-1940s.) During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces asked JPL to analyze the V2 rockets that were developed by Nazi Germany, as well as work on other projects for the war effort. From this study, JPL developed the Corporal missile which was used in the Korean War. This project later evolved into the Sergeant Rocket until it was discontinued in 1958.

By 1958, JPL's government affiliation was transferred to the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and JPL's current mission of unmanned planetary exploration began. JPL retained its original name after the transition, even though most research into jet propulsion ceased after 1958. In 1995 JPL once again got involved in propulsion design, issuing a contract to Wickman Spacecraft and Propulsion Company to develop a rocket engine and jet engine that could directly burn the Martian atmosphere of carbon dioxide.

Other works

In addition to its government work, JPL has also assisted the nearby motion picture and television industries, by advising them about scientific accuracy in their productions. Science-fiction shows advised by JPL include Babylon 5 and its sequel series Crusade.

The Space Flight Operations Facility and Twenty-five-foot Space Simulator are designated National Historic Landmarks.

Missions

Listed chronologically, the following significant missions were partially sponsored by JPL. See this page for a complete list of missions.

List of Directors

Dr. Theodore von Kármán, 1938 – 1944
Dr. Frank Malina, 1944 – 1946
Dr. Louis Dunn, 1946 – October 1, 1954
Dr. William H. Pickering, October 1, 1954 – March 31, 1976
Dr. Bruce C. Murray, April 1, 1976 – June 30, 1982
Dr. Lew Allen, Jr., July 22, 1982 – December 31, 1990
Dr. Edward C. Stone, January 1, 1991 – April 30, 2001
Dr. Charles Elachi, May 1, 2001 – Present

External links

JPL's official site

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History

Other works

Missions

List of Directors

External links