About JPL
"Do not go where the path may lead," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. "Go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail."
That could be the motto of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Trailblazing has been the business of JPL since it was established by the California Institute of Technology in the 1930s. America's first satellite, Explorer 1, was created at JPL. In the decades that followed, we sent the first robotic craft to the Moon and out across the solar system, reconnoitering all of the planets. Pushing the outer edge of exploration, in fact, is the reason JPL exists as a NASA laboratory.
In that spirit, this is an exceptionally busy period for JPL in laying new paths. This summer we launched the Mars Phoenix lander, which will give us important information on where water exists on the Red Planet. The following month, we launched the Dawn spacecraft, which will use ion propulsion to go into orbit around two bodies for the first time ever -- the large asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is returning exceptionally detailed photos of the Red Planet's surface, while the rovers Spirit and Opportunity keep going far beyond the mission they were originally designed for. The flagship explorer Cassini continues its orbits of Saturn, scrutinizing the ringed planet and its moons, including the haze-shrouded Titan. The Voyagers are exploring the edge of our solar system.
Closer to home, a contingent of Earth-orbiting satellites monitors the lands, oceans and atmosphere of our own planet. When CloudSat was launched last year, it joined a number of JPL satellites and instruments returning important information on topics ranging from atmospheric ozone to El Nino events. And yet another collection of explorers is looking far beyond the solar system to search for Earth-like planets and understand the history of distant galaxies. These include the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, as well as ground-based projects such as JPL instruments on the Keck Telescope in Hawaii. In total, JPL has 19 spacecraft and six instruments arrayed across the solar system. All these missions are part of NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, designed to explore Earth and space and to send robots and humans to explore the Moon, Mars and beyond.
These ventures would not be possible without NASA's Deep Space Network, also managed by JPL. This international network of antenna complexes on several continents serves as the communication gateway between distant spacecraft and the Earth-based teams that guide them.
While carrying out these exploration missions, JPL also conducts a number of space technology demonstrations in support of national security and develops technologies for uses on Earth in fields from public safety to medicine, capitalizing on NASA's investment in space technology.
JPL is a NASA center staffed and managed for the government by a leading private university, Caltech -- and thus we are known as a federally funded research and development center. I believe that this marriage of the government and university worlds lends us a wonderful intellectual infusion to drive our exploration efforts. Caltech anchors us in the world of excellence and academic curiosity, while NASA gives us the opportunity to reach for the stars.
Venturing into the unknown is not always easy. But as Teddy Roosevelt once said, "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in that grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
The stories of these mighty things we dare are told in the pages that begin here. I hope you will enjoy your visit, and that you find JPL's website to be an inspiring and valuable resource.
Dr. Charles Elachi
Director
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, California 91109
(818) 354-4321
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