Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States.[1] Founded in 1936 by Caltech researchers, the laboratory is now owned and sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and administered and managed by the California Institute of Technology.[2][3]
"JPL" redirects here. For other uses, see JPL (disambiguation).Established
October 31, 1936
Applied
>6,000
4800 Oak Grove Drive
The laboratory's primary function is the construction and operation of planetary robotic spacecraft, though it also conducts Earth-orbit and astronomy missions. It is also responsible for operating the NASA Deep Space Network.
Among the laboratory's major active projects are the Mars 2020 mission, which includes the Perseverance rover; the Mars Science Laboratory mission, including the Curiosity rover; the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter; the Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter; the SMAP satellite for earth surface soil moisture monitoring; the NuSTAR X-ray telescope; and the Psyche asteroid orbiter. It is also responsible for managing the JPL Small-Body Database, and provides physical data and lists of publications for all known small Solar System bodies.
JPL's Space Flight Operations Facility and Twenty-Five-Foot Space Simulator are designated National Historic Landmarks.
Employees[edit]
There are approximately 6,000 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.
Other works[edit]
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 also works with the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS-S&T). JPL and DHS-S&T developed a search and rescue tool for first responders called FINDER. First responders can use FINDER to locate people still alive who are buried in rubble after a disaster or terrorist attack. FINDER uses microwave radar to detect breathing and pulses.[63]
Additionally, JPL is home to the JPL-RPIF (Jet Propulsion Laboratory – Regional Planetary Image Facility) which is chartered as a repository for all robotic spacecraft hard-copy data and thus provides a valuable resource to NASA funded science investigators, and an important conduit for the distribution of NASA generated materials to local educators in the Los Angeles/southern California area.[64][65]
Funding[edit]
The predominant source of JPL's financial support is NASA.[66] As a field center of NASA, JPL's primary activities and projects are generally aligned with NASA's mission objectives in space exploration, Earth sciences, and astrophysics. The funding allocated to JPL comes as a portion of NASA's annual budget, which is itself part of the United States federal budget approved by Congress.[67] The scale of the budget is contingent on the projects that JPL undertakes as missions can range from flagship interplanetary missions costing billions of U.S. dollars to smaller Earth observation systems with budgets in the hundreds of millions.
Aside from NASA, JPL secures funding for specialized projects from other federal agencies, including but not limited to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).[68][69] Occasionally, JPL engages in joint missions or research endeavors with international space agencies or research institutions. While these partnerships contribute a relatively small portion of JPL's overall budget, they serve to enhance the scope and impact of its scientific research and technological development.
The total budget for JPL is subject to annual fluctuations based on both the federal allocation to NASA and the life cycle of ongoing projects. High-profile missions may receive significant long-term funding commitments, whereas smaller or shorter-term projects may have more modest financial support. These agencies often commission projects that leverage JPL's unique expertise in areas like remote sensing, robotics, and systems engineering. Although these projects form a smaller part of JPL's overall budget, they are integral to fulfilling the diverse set of objectives that these federal agencies oversee.
In fiscal year 2022, the laboratory's budget was approximately $2.4 billion, with the largest share going to Planetary Science development.[70]
Peanuts tradition[edit]
There is a tradition at JPL to eat "good luck peanuts" before critical mission events, such as orbital insertions or landings. As the story goes, after the Ranger program had experienced failure after failure during the 1960s, the first successful Ranger mission to impact the Moon occurred after a JPL staff member had decided to pass out peanuts to relieve tension. The staff jokingly decided that the peanuts must have been a good luck charm, and the tradition persisted.[71][72]
A 2015 photo of JPL from above
Spacecraft assembly room at JPL
Aerodynamic noise facility at JPL (c. 1970)
Pneumatic cannon in JPL's impact testing facility
