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The JPL complex in Pasadena, Ca. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The control room in JPL Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a NASA research center located in the cities of Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, near Los Angeles, California, USA. Managed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), it builds and operates unmanned spacecraft for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Among its current projects are the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

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

Contents 1 History 2 Location 3 Employees 4 Open House days 5 Other works 6 Funding 7 Missions 8 List of directors 9 References 10 External links

JPL dates back to the 1930s, when Caltech professor Theodore von Kármán began running rocket propulsion experiments at the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory on the site. JPL was co-founded in 1944 with rocket scientists Tsien Hsue-shen and Jack Parsons, which has led some to affectionately refer to it as the Jack Parsons Lab. Despite its name, JPL has always been focused on developing and building rocket engines, not turbojets or other air-breathing jet engines; rockets 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. This project later evolved into the Sergeant Rocket until it was discontinued in 1977.

By 1958, JPL's government affiliation was transferred to the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and JPL's current mission of unmanned spaceflight began. JPL engineers designed and built the Explorers, the U.S.'s first artificial satellites, as well as the unmanned Ranger and Surveyor missions to the Moon that prepared the way for Apollo. JPL also led the way in interplanetary exploration with the Mariner missions to Venus, Mars, and Mercury. In the 1970s, the more sophisticated Viking missions were sent to Mars, and the Voyager missions were sent to Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond. The 1990s saw the Magellan mission to map Venus, the Galileo mission to orbit and intensively study Jupiter, and a new array of Mars missions including Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor. Currently, JPL operates the Cassini-Huygens mission to orbit and intensively study Saturn, the Stardust mission to collect cometary dust, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and three missions currently at Mars (Mars Odyssey, the Mars Exploration Rovers, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter).

Almost all of the 177 acres (72 ha) of the U.S. federal 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 has been periodic conflict between the two cities over the issue of which should be mentioned in the media as the home of the laboratory.

There are approximately 5,000 full-time Caltech employees, and typically a few thousand additional contractors working 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.

In 2007, some employees are considering resigning or retiring early because of controversy over a new rebadging process that requires background investigations of all employees. The rebadging rules are designed to make JPL compliant with FIPS 201.

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 Southern California and elsewhere visit the lab every year.

The 2007 Open House took place on May 19-20, 2007^[1] and featured new missions like Dawn Mission and Juno.

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.

JPL is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed and operated by Caltech under a contract from NASA. JPL-run projects include the Galileo mission to Jupiter and its moons, the Mars rovers (including the 1997 Mars Pathfinder and the twin 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers). JPL has sent unmanned missions to every planet in our Solar System. JPL has also conducted extensive mapping missions of Earth. JPL manages the world-wide Deep Space Network, with facilities in California's Mojave Desert, in Spain near Madrid, and in Australia near Canberra.

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

• Explorer program
• Ranger program
• Surveyor program
• Mariner program
• Pioneer 3 & 4
• Viking program
• Voyager program
• Magellan probe
• Galileo probe
• Deep Space 1 & 2
• Mars Global Surveyor
• Mars Climate Orbiter
• Cassini-Huygens
• Stardust
• Mars Odyssey
• Mars Pathfinder
• Mars Exploration Rover Mission
• Spitzer Space Telescope
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

• Dr. Theodore von Kármán, 1938 – 1944
• Dr. Frank Malina, 1944 – 1946
• Dr. Louis Dunn, 1946 – October 1, 1954
• Dr. William Hayward 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 ^[2]

• JPL's official site

• Jet Propulsion Laboratory is at coordinates 34°11′59″N 118°10′29″W / 34.1996350, -118.1746540Coordinates: 34°11′59″N 118°10′29″W / 34.1996350, -118.1746540

v • d • e Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Current missions	ACRIMSAT · AIRS · ASTER · Cassini-Huygens · Dawn · GALEX · GRACE · Jason 1 · Keck Interferometer · Mars Odyssey · MER · MGS · MISR · MLS · MRO · Phoenix · QuikSCAT · Rosetta · Spitzer · Stardust · TES · TOPEX/Poseidon · Ulysses · Voyager · WFPC
Past missions	Deep Impact · Deep Space 1 · Deep Space 2 · Explorer · Galileo · Genesis · IRAS · Magellan · Mariner · Mars Climate Orbiter · Mars Observer · Mars Pathfinder · Mars Polar Lander · NSCAT · Pioneer · Ranger · Seasat · SIR · SME · SRTM · Surveyor · SVLBI · Viking · WIRE
Future missions	Herschel Space Observatory · Kepler · LBT · MSL · AFL
Related organizations	Caltech · NASA · Deep Space Network · Goldstone Complex
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NASA Facilities

NASA Ames Research Center – Dryden Flight Research Center – Glenn Research Center – Goddard Space Flight Center – Jet Propulsion Laboratory – Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center – John F. Kennedy Space Center – Langley Research Center – Marshall Space Flight Center – John C. Stennis Space Center