In honor of Women’s History Month, the Advisory Council for Women (ACW) organized a "Women of JPL" group photo shoot in the Space Flight Operations Facility on March 4, 2020. Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech

Employees and visitors to JPL stopped to watch the 2017 solar eclipse.

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Advisory Council for Women (ACW) organized a "Women of JPL" group photo shoot in the Space Flight Operations Facility on March 4, 2020. Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech

The InSight Team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, in June 2015. The InSight team is comprised of scientists and engineers from multiple disciplines and is a unique collaboration between countries and organizations around the world. The science team includes co-investigators from the U.S., France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22234

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. This aerial image of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was taken in September 1950, when the lab's main patron was the U.S. Army. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21116

The crowd at a NASA event during the 2017 total solar eclipse in Idaho Falls, Idaho

Juniper Doucette and her mother Chloe Doucette, head of education at the museum of Idaho Falls, enjoying the 2017 total solar eclipse.

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. The Administration Building of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Building 180) is pictured in January 1965. What appears as a parking lot in this photograph later becomes "The Mall", a landscaped open-air gathering place. A small security control post can be seen at the left of the 1965 image. And Building 167, one of the lab's cafeterias, is on the right. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21121

Mars Polar Lander Landing Zone Compared With JPL

Mars Polar Lander Landing Zone Compared With JPL

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL’s past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. This is what greeted visitors to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in December 1957, before NASA was created and the lab became one of its centers. There is no sign at this location today -- there is just a stairway that runs up the side of the main Administration Building (Building 180). The official lab sign has moved farther south, just as the lab itself has expanded farther south out from the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21115

work order 153425 Solar Eclipse at JPL 21 Aug, 2017 Katie Armstrong photog: Dutch Slager

work order 153425 Solar Eclipse at JPL 21 Aug, 2017 Jim Rinaldi, Jim Graf photog: Dutch Slager

work order 153425 Solar Eclipse at JPL 21 Aug, 2017 photog: Dutch Slager

work order 153425 Solar Eclipse at JPL 21 Aug, 2017 photog: Dutch Slager

work order 153425 Solar Eclipse at JPL 21 Aug, 2017 Jim Graf photog: Dutch Slager

Footage taken at the JPL In-Situ Instruments Laboratory, or testbed, shows engineers practicing the deployment of the test rover robotic arm.

Robotics researchers at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, stand with robots RoboSimian and Surrogate, both built at JPL.

This image shows the deflated airbags retracted underneath the lander petal at the JPL In-Situ Instrument Laboratory.

This image shows the airbags in deflated position at the JPL In-Situ Instrument Laboratory, where engineers tested the airbags to ensure a safe landing on Mars.

Airbags are fully inflated in this photograph taken at the JPL In-Situ Instrument Laboratory or Testbed, where engineers simulated the orientation of the airbags during the deflation process.

This still image illustrates what the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit will look like as it rolls off the northeastern side of the lander on Mars. The image was taken from footage of rover testing at JPL In-Situ Instruments Laboratory, or Testbed.

NASA employees enjoy the 2017 total solar eclipse in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Juniper Doucette with her mother Chloe Doucette, head of education at the museum of Idaho Falls, celebrate the 2017 total solar eclipse.

Footage from the JPL In-Situ Instruments Laboratory, or testbed, shows engineers rehearsing a crucial maneuver called egress in which NASA Mars Exploration Rover Spirit rolls off its lander platform and touches martian soil.

The logo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has roamed Mars since the September 1997 landing of very first rover, Sojourner, part of the Mars Pathfinder mission. This close-up view of the JPL logo – bolted to the chassis of NASA's Perseverance – was acquired on June 28, 2025 (the 1,548th day, or sol, of its mission to Mars), by the rover's WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) imager. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26580

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. This photograph from 1949 shows the main entrance gate to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, after a snowstorm. To the left is JPL's administration building at the time (Building 67). Building 67 is the Materials Research Building today. The Space Flight Operations Facility (Building 230), which houses JPL's Mission Control, now stands over the parking area on the right. As the lab expanded, the main entrance gate moved farther south. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21118

This image shows final preparations being made for thermal balance testing of the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment at JPL. Diviner is one of seven instruments aboard NASA LRO Mission.

JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility looks more like a hangar in this photo of two engineers standing with Mariner 1 on May 2, 1962. However, the gowning procedures were far less rigorous than they are today. Mariner 1 was destroyed during its attempted launch to Venus. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23310

This image taken at JPL shows engineers testing the route by which the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity will roll off its lander. Opportunity touched down at Meridiani Planum, Mars on Jan. 24, 9:05 p.m. PST, 2004, Earth-received time.

This frame from a video clip shows moments during a demonstration of drilling into a rock at NASA JPL, Pasadena, Calif., with a test double of the Mars rover Curiosity. The drill combines hammering and rotation motions of the bit.

JPL engineer Andy Klesh lowers a robotic submersible into a moulin. Klesh and JPL's John Leichty used robots and probes to explore the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska this past July. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Diane Hope, Charlene Ung, and Cathryn Murray-Wooddell oversee preparations for vibration testing of the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) science instrument at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in October 2021. The testing simulates the accelerations and vibrations the instrument will experience during its launch to the International Space Station. Hope is the EMIT mission manager at the NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Program Office (ESSPPO), Ung is EMIT's project manager at JPL, and Murray-Wooddell is a program analyst from ESSPPO. EMIT will collect measurements of 10 important surface minerals – hematite, goethite, illite, vermiculite, calcite, dolomite, montmorillonite, kaolinite, chlorite, and gypsum – in arid regions between 50-degree south and north latitudes in Africa, Asia, North and South America, and Australia. The data EMIT collects using its telescope and imaging spectrometer will help scientists better understand the role of airborne dust particles in heating and cooling Earth's atmosphere on global and regional scales. EMIT was developed at JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California. It is set to launch in June 2022 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the ISS aboard SpaceX's 25th commercial resupply mission. Once EMIT begins operation, its data will be delivered to the NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) for use by other researchers and the public. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25150

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, left, meets with incoming JPL Director Dr. Laurie Leshin, Tuesday, Feb., 15, 2022, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

A technician works on the descent stage for NASA's Mars 2020 mission inside JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. Mars 2020 is slated to carry NASA's next Mars rover to the Red Planet in July of 2020. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22342

Lauren White, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, adjusts an experiment that simulates how ancient seawater and fluid from hydrothermal vents could have reacted with minerals from the seafloor to create organic molecules 4.5 billion years ago. The image was taken at JPL in 2014. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23688

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, left, and incoming JPL Director Dr. Laurie Leshin, pose for a photograph at the conclusion of their meeting, Tuesday, Feb., 15, 2022, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Suzanne Dodd, the director for the Interplanetary Network Directorate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, addresses an audience at the Deep Space Network's Canberra complex on March 19, 2025. That day marked 60 years since the Australian facility joined the network. JPL's Interplanetary Network Directorate oversees the Deep Space Network's three complexes in Canberra, Madrid, and Goldstone, near Barstow, California. JPL manages the Deep Space Network for the agency's Space Communications and Navigation program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26585

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. Building 11, one of the oldest buildings on lab, was once JPL's central administration building. It is now the Space Sciences Laboratory. This picture dates back to May 1943. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21201

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. When spacecraft in deep space "phone home," they do it through NASA's Deep Space Network. Engineers in this room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory -- known as Mission Control -- monitor the flow of data. This image was taken in May 1964, when the building this nerve center is in, the Space Flight Operations Facility (Building 230), was dedicated at JPL. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21120

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, right, meets with incoming JPL Director Dr. Laurie Leshin, left, along with NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana, and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Tuesday, Feb., 15, 2022, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Range : 5.9 million kilometers (3.66 million miles) Europa is Jupiter's 2nd Galilean satellites from the planet and the brightest. Photo taken early morning through violet filter. Faint swirls and linear patterns show in the equatorial region (which shows darker than the poles). This hemisphere always faces Jupiter. North is up. Density and size comparable to Earth's Moon and seems to show water ice or ground water on its surface. JPL Reference # P-21163.

JPL's High-Altitude Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit Sounding Radiometer (HAMSR) instrument captured this look inside Hurricane Matthew's spiral clouds on Oct. 7, 2016, flying on a NASA Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. Red colors show cloud bands without precipitation; blues show rain bands. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21093

A mirror set to be installed inside the telescope for NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor) is seen during an inspection of the mirror's surface at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on July 17, 2024. Being built in a JPL clean room, the infrared telescope is the spacecraft's only instrument and it will be used to seek out some of the hardest-to-find near-Earth objects that may pose a hazard to our planet. The reflection of principal optical engineer Brian Monacelli can be seen in the mirror. Known as a "three-mirror anastigmat telescope," the instrument will rely on a set of curved mirrors to focus light onto its infrared detectors in such a way that minimizes optical aberrations. Before being installed, the mirrors were examined for any debris or damage. Then, JPL's team of optomechanical technicians and engineers attached the mirrors to the telescope's "optical bench" in August. Next, they will measure the telescope's performance and align the telescope's mirrors. When complete, the telescope will be housed inside an instrument enclosure – being built at JPL in a different clean room – that is fabricated from dark composite material that allows heat to escape, helping to keep the telescope cool and prevent its own heat from obscuring observations. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26386

Participants in NASA's Minority Serving Institutions Space Accelerator program surround a full-scale model of NASA's Mars Ingenuity Helicopter as engineer Michael Starch discusses the mission. The group was visiting NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Aug. 18, 2022. These participants were members of three teams named as awardees in the first-of-its-kind accelerator program, a competition to advance the NASA's goals and meet its needs in the areas of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and development of autonomous systems while also engaging underrepresented academic institutions and reducing barriers for them to submit ideas to the agency. The program provides funding, business training through a 10-week accelerator course, and mentorship to help the teams develop ideas for systems that can operate without human oversight for future science missions in space and on Earth. The teams were made up of professors and students from Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, University of Massachusetts Boston, and California State University, Northridge. At the conclusion of the accelerator, participants arrived in Southern California for a variety of events, including two days at JPL. The program is a partnership between NASA's Science Mission Directorate, its Earth Science Technology Office, the Minority University Research Education Project within the agency's Office of STEM Engagement, JPL, and Starburst, a global aerospace accelerator company based in Los Angeles. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25315

Deep Space Antenna 210' at Goldstone, CA (JPL ref: P-116594AC)

Jupiter as seen by Voyager 1, mosaic of planet. (JPL ref. No. P-21147)

Voyager 1 catches volcanic eruption on Jupiter's moon Io JPL - no available

Officials from NASA, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), and the Embassy of India hold a send-off ceremony for the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) science instrument payload on Feb. 3, 2023, outside a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The payload is scheduled to be shipped to India in March. Pictured left to right: Karen St. Germain, director, Earth Science Division, NASA; Mitra Dutta, NISAR program executive, NASA; Sripriya Ranganathan, ambassador and deputy chief of mission, Indian Embassy; Larry James, deputy director, JPL; Bhavya Lal, associate administrator for technology, policy, and strategy, NASA; Jim Graf, director, Earth Science and Technology Directorate, JPL; S. Somanath, chairman, ISRO; Laurie Leshin, director, JPL; Krunal Joshi, counselor, space and ISRO technical liaison officer, Indian Embassy; M. Sankaran, director, U R Rao Satellite Centre, ISRO; Shantanu Bhatawdekar, scientific secretary, ISRO; Paul Rosen, NISAR project scientist, JPL; CV Shrikant, NISAR project director, ISRO; Phil Barela, NISAR project manager, JPL; and Gerald Bawden, NISAR program scientist, NASA. NISAR – a joint effort between NASA and ISRO – will measure changes to Earth's land ice surfaces down to fractions of an inch. Data collected by this satellite will help researchers monitor a wide range of changes critical to life on Earth in unprecedented detail. This includes spotting warning signs of imminent volcanic eruptions, helping to monitor groundwater supplies, tracking the melt rate of ice sheets tied to sea level rise, and observing shifts in the distribution of vegetation around the world. The data will inform humanity's responses to urgent challenges posed by natural disasters and climate change, and help communities prepare for and manage hazards. There are two instruments on the satellite that will send and receive radar signals to and from Earth's surface to make the mission's measurements. An L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which uses a signal wavelength of around 9 inches (24 centimeters), and an S-band SAR with a signal wavelength of nearly 5 inches (12 centimeters). Both will bounce their microwave signal off of the planet's surface and record how long it takes the signal to make one roundtrip, as well as the strength of that return signal. This enables the researchers to calculate the distance from the spacecraft to Earth's surface and thereby determine how the land or ice is changing. An antenna reflector nearly 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter, supported by a deployable boom, will focus the microwave signals sent and received by the SARs. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, leads the U.S. component of NISAR and is providing the mission's L-band SAR instrument. NASA is also providing the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. ISRO is providing the spacecraft bus, the S-band SAR, the launch vehicle, and associated launch services and satellite mission operations. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25600

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, left, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, incoming JPL Director Dr. Laurie Leshin, and NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana, pose for a photograph at the conclusion of their meeting, Tuesday, Feb., 15, 2022, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, right, meets with incoming JPL Director Dr. Laurie Leshin, left, along with NASA Deputy Chief of Staff Bale Dalton, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Business Operations Casey Swails, NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana, and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Tuesday, Feb., 15, 2022, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Voyager 1 catches volcanic eruption on Jupiter's moon Io JPL ref No. P-21334

As Voyager 1 approches Jupiter three of its moons can be seen JPL ref. No. C-206

Voyager 1 close up image of Jupiter moon Io JPL ref. No. P-21277

Voyager 1's look at Jupiter's moon Io JPL ref No. P-21457

Jupiter as seen by Voyager 1, mosaic of Jupiter's Satellite Io. (JPL ref. No. P-21206)

Jupiter as seen by Voyager 1, mosic of Great Red Spot. (JPL ref. No. P-21203)

The Mars 2020 rover is visible (just above center) in this image — taken on Nov. 12, 2019 — of the High Bay 1 clean room floor in JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. Many of NASA's most famous robotic spacecraft were assembled and tested in High Bay 1, including most of the Ranger and Mariner spacecraft; Voyager 1; the Galileo and Cassini orbiters; and all of NASA's Mars rovers. An annotated version of the image points to the facility's Wall of Fame, featuring emblems of those and other spacecraft that successfully launched after being built in the room. It also points to other features of the room, including the facility's gallery, which hosts about 30,000 members of the public each year. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23519

The COWVR development team and instrument in a clean room at JPL. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24982

Limbed robot RoboSimian was developed at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, seen here with Brett Kennedy, supervisor of the JPL Robotic Vehicles and Manipulators Group, and Chuck Bergh, a senior engineer in JPL Robotic Hardware Systems Group.

JPL's HAMSR instrument flew above Hurricane Matthew on Oct. 7 aboard a NASA Global Hawk aircraft. Right: atmospheric temperatures overlaid atop ground-based radar and satellite visible images. Reds are areas without clouds; blues show ice and heavy precipitation. Upper left: Global Hawk visible image. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21094

This view of a test rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, results from advance testing of arm positions and camera pointings for taking a low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. This rehearsal in California led to a dramatic Aug. 5, 2015, selfie of Curiosity, online at PIA19807. Curiosity's arm-mounted Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera took 92 of component images that were assembled into that mosaic. The rover team positioned the camera lower in relation to the rover body than for any previous full self-portrait of Curiosity. This practice version was taken at JPL's Mars Yard in July 2013, using the Vehicle System Test Bed (VSTB) rover, which has a test copy of MAHLI on its robotic arm. MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19810

jsc2025e059518 (617/2025) --- A preflight view of the Portable Tunable Laser Spectrometer (PTLS) sensor package. PTLS uses a sensor network to measure the distribution of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and oxygen over time. Image courtesy of JPL.

A truck arrives at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on June 3, 2024, to deliver the Medium Articulating Transportation System (MATS), which will be used during the construction and transportation of components for NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor mission. Originating at the aerospace company Beyond Gravity in Vienna, Austria, the MATS traveled via ship through the Panama Canal to Port Hueneme, California, before arriving by road at JPL. Construction has begun on NEO Surveyor's instrument enclosure in the High Bay 1 clean room at JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. When the enclosure is complete later this year, it will be moved inside the MATS to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for environmental testing. The MATS is a transportable clean room with its own filtration and climate control systems that keep the spacecraft and components clean, stable, and safe while being moved between facilities. NEO Surveyor's instrument enclosure contains the spacecraft's telescope, mirrors, and infrared sensors that will be used to detect, track, and characterize the most hazardous near-Earth objects. BAE Systems, Space Dynamics Laboratory, and Teledyne are among the aerospace and engineering companies contracted to build the spacecraft and its instrumentation. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder will support operations, and IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for processing survey data and producing the mission's data products. JPL manages the project; Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Launching no earlier than 2027, NEO Surveyor supports the objectives of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The NASA Authorization Act of 2005 directed NASA to discover and characterize at least 90% of the near-Earth objects more than 140 meters (460 feet) across that come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of our planet's orbit. Objects of this size can cause significant regional damage, or worse, should they impact the Earth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26381

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. At the northeast end of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, there was a row of rocket test pits and storage buildings that housed explosives. This was near the Arroyo Seco, a dry canyon wash at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The picture was taken in August 1944. Today, this area is a small parking lot behind the Fabrication Shop (Building 103). http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21119

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. This image shows engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory looking at data related to the Venus flyby of Mariner 2 on Dec. 14, 1962. This was the first successful flyby of another planet. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21117

A major component of NASA's Psyche spacecraft has been delivered to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the phase known as assembly, test, and launch operations (ATLO) is now underway. This photo, shot March 28, 2021 shows engineers and technicians preparing to move the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis from its shipping container to a dolly in High Bay 1 of JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. The photo was captured just after the chassis was delivered to JPL by Maxar Technologies. Maxar's team in Palo Alto, California, designed and built the SEP Chassis, which includes all the primary and secondary structure and the hardware components needed for the high-power electrical system, the propulsion system, the thermal system, guidance and navigation sensors and actuators, and the high-gain antenna. Over the next year, additional hardware will be added to the spacecraft including the command and data handling system, a power distribution assembly, the X-band telecommunications hardware suite, three science instruments (two imagers, two magnetometers, and a gamma ray neutron Spectrometer), and a deep space optical communications technology demonstrator. The spacecraft will finish assembly and then undergo rigorous checkout and testing before being shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for an August 2022 launch to the main asteroid belt. Psyche will arrive at the metal-rich asteroid of the same name in 2026, orbiting for 21 months to investigate its composition. Scientists think that Psyche is made up of mostly iron and nickel — similar to Earth's core. Exploring the asteroid could give valuable insight into how our own planet and others formed. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24475

JPL engineers examine the robotic arm of NASA Mars Exploration Rover 1.

JPL engineers making adjustments to NASA Mars Exploration Rover 1.

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL’s past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. Building 264, also known as the Space Flight Support Building, hosts engineers supporting space missions in flight at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It used to be just two stories, as seen in this image from January 1972, but then the Viking project to Mars needed more room. The building still serves the same function today, but now has eight floors. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21123

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. This photograph from 1971 shows the open-air gathering area at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory known as "The Mall." It looks east towards the Applied Mechanics building (the blocky white building now numbered 157). The person in the foreground is Robert Steinbacher, the project scientist for the Mariner 9 mission to Mars. The concrete bridge crossing the ponds remains, even though the ponds have been removed. Many trees and another building, the Central Engineering Building (301), block the view to Building 157 now. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21125

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. During World War II, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory had a contract with the U.S. Army to develop rocket torpedoes. This picture from August 1944 shows the test facility, known as the "Tow Channel." It was used for storage for many years before being torn out to make space for the Earth and Space Science Laboratory (Building 300) and the Microdevices Laboratory (Building 302). http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21124

Data from JPL Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer instrument on NASA Terra satellite provides views of the L.A. Basin, including Dodger Stadium, the L.A.X. airport and JPL.

Engineers in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in April 2023 examine the imaging spectrometer that will ride aboard the first of two satellites to be launched by the Carbon Mapper Coalition. The instrument will help researchers detect emissions of carbon dioxide and methane from sources on Earth's surface from space. The gold-colored component is the spectrometer, which was developed at JPL. It's designed to receive sunlight reflected from Earth and divide that light into hundreds of distinct colors in the near-infrared and visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. By analyzing the light's spectroscopic signature – the wavelengths that show up in the signal as well as those that do not – researchers can determine whether the instrument is observing greenhouse gas emissions and, if so, estimate their concentrations. The black portion at the base of the instrument is a telescope that captures light from Earth's surface and reflects it into the spectrometer. When released into the atmosphere, carbon dioxide and methane are the greenhouse gases most responsible for human-caused global warming. Both have unique spectral signatures that make them detectable from space via spectroscopy. The imaging spectrometer is JPL's contribution to the Carbon Mapper Coalition, a joint effort led by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper that also includes Planet Labs PBC, the California Air Resources Board, Arizona State University, and the University of Arizona. Once the instrument is in orbit, researchers will use its measurements to identify the sources of carbon dioxide and methane plumes it detects. Identification of the origins of emissions is considered the first step towards mitigation. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25869

A major component of NASA's Psyche spacecraft has been delivered to the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the phase known as assembly, test, and launch operations (ATLO) is now underway. Taken on March 28, 2021, this photo shows the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis just after it was delivered to JPL by Maxar Technologies. Here, the chassis is about to be attached to the dolly in High Bay 1 of JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. Maxar's team in Palo Alto, California, designed and built the SEP Chassis, which includes all the primary and secondary structure and the hardware components needed for the high-power electrical system, the propulsion system, the thermal system, guidance and navigation sensors and actuators, and the high-gain antenna. Over the next year additional hardware will be added to the spacecraft, including the command and data handling system, a power distribution assembly, the X-band telecommunications hardware suite, three science instruments (two imagers, two magnetometers, and a Gamma Ray Neutron Spectrometer), and a deep space optical communications technology demonstrator. The spacecraft will finish assembly and then undergo rigorous checkout and testing before being shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for an August 2022 launch to the main asteroid belt. Psyche will arrive at the metal-rich asteroid of the same name in 2026, orbiting for 21 months to investigate its composition. Scientists think that Psyche is made up of mostly iron and nickel — similar to Earth's core. Exploring the asteroid could give valuable insight into how our own planet and others formed. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24474

JPL Director Michael Watkins gives remarks during a NASA Perseverance rover mission post-landing update, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

JPL Director Michael Watkins gives remarks during a NASA Perseverance rover mission post-landing update, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

JPL Director Michael Watkins gives remarks during a NASA Perseverance rover mission post-landing update, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

JPL Director Michael Watkins gives remarks during a NASA Perseverance rover mission post-landing update, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Engineers for NASA Mars Exploration Rover Mission are completing assembly and testing for the twin robotic geologists at JPL.

This image shows average daytime temperatures in May, 2009, as observed by JPL Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on NASA Aqua satellite.

NASA Rover 2 equipment deck, with solar arrays partially deployed, in NASA JPL Spacecraft Assembly Facility cleanroom.

This image represents the total precipitable water vapor for May 2009 as observed by JPL Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on NASA Aqua satellite.

This image represents the total precipitable water vapor for May, 2009 as observed by JPL Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on NASA Aqua satellite.

Engineers for NASA Mars Exploration Rover Mission are completing assembly and testing for the twin robotic geologists at JPL.

Seen here are members of the international team that participated in recent tests on prototype hardware for the Venus Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (VISAR) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. VISAR is being developed at JPL for NASA's Venus Emissivity Radio Science, InSAR, Topography & Spectroscopy (VERITAS) mission that will launch within a decade to explore Earth's twin. In March 2023, the hardware underwent early interface tests in a JPL clean room, representing the first in a series to be run by JPL and Thales Alenia Space Italy (TASI), an international partner of the VERITAS mission that is contributing hardware to the instrument. Dressed in gowns to minimize the risk of contamination with sensitive electronics, the JPL VISAR digital team and TASI engineers pose for a photograph next to the laboratory benches where the tests took place. Figure A shows the same personnel without gowns for a team photo. From left to right: Marvin Cruz (JPL), Chester Lim (JPL), Tim Noh (JPL), Hana Haideri (JPL), Luca Di Marco Napini (TASI), Ernie Chuang (JPL), Dragana Perkovic-Martin (JPL), and Gabriel Mihu (TASI). JPL's Michael Burke, Anusha Yarlagadda, Duane Clark, and TASI's Antonio Delfino also participated in the tests but are not pictured. When VERITAS arrives in orbit, it will use VISAR to create detailed 3D global maps of Venus. The spacecraft will also carry a near-infrared spectrometer to figure out what the surface is made of. Together, the instruments will offer clues about the planet's past and present geologic processes, help reveal how the paths of Venus and Earth diverged, and how Venus lost its potential as a habitable world. VERITAS is managed by JPL. VERITAS and NASA's Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission were selected in 2021 under NASA's Discovery Program as the agency's next missions to Venus. The Discovery Program is managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the Planetary Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25833

On October of 1997, a two-story-tall robotic spacecraft will begin a journey of many years to reach and explore the exciting realm of Saturn, the most distant planet that can easily be seen by the unaided human eye. In addition to Saturn's interesting atmosphere and interior, its vast system contains the most spectacular of the four planetary ring systems, numerous icy satellites with a variety of unique surface features. A huge magnetosphere teeming with particles that interact with the rings and moons, and the intriguing moon Titan, which is slightly larger than the planet Mercury, and whose hazy atmosphere is denser than that of Earth, make Saturn a fascinating planet to study. The Cassini mission is an international venture involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and several separate European academic and industrial partners. The mission is managed for NASA by JPL. The spacecraft will carry a sophisticated complement of scientific sensors to support 27 different investigations to probe the mysteries of the Saturn system. The large spacecraft will consist of an orbiter and ESA's Huygens Titan probe. The orbiter mass at launch will be nearly 5300 kg, over half of which is propellant for trajectory control. The mass of the Titan probe (2.7 m diameter) is roughly 350 kg. The mission is named in honor of the seventeenth-century, French-Italian astronomer Jean Dominique Cassini, who discovered the prominent gap in Saturn's main rings, as well as the icy moons Iapetus, Rhea, Dione, and Tethys. The ESA Titan probe is named in honor of the exceptional Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens, who discovered Titan in 1655, followed in 1659 by his announcement that the strange Saturn "moons" seen by Galileo in 1610 were actually a ring system surrounding the planet. Huygens was also famous for his invention of the pendulum clock, the first accurate timekeeping device. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04603

A prototype of an autonomous robot, part of a project called IceNode being developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was tested in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska in March 2024. The project envisions a fleet of such robots to venture beneath Antarctic ice shelves and gather data that would help scientists calculate how rapidly the ice shelves there are melting – and how fast that melting could cause global sea levels to rise. This image, as well as Figures A and B, shows the team lowering the prototype through a borehole in the sea ice. During this Arctic field test, the robot descended on a tether about 330 feet (100 meters) into the ocean, where its instruments gathered salinity, temperature, and flow data. The team also conducted tests to determine adjustments that would enable them to take the robot off-tether. Each about 8 feet (2.4 meters) long and 10 inches (25 centimeters) in diameter, the robots use three-legged "landing gear" that springs out from one end to attach the robot to the underside of the ice. Rather than using propulsion, the robots would autonomously position themselves with the help of novel algorithms based on models of ocean currents. Released from a borehole or a vessel in the open ocean, the robots would ride those currents on a long journey beneath an ice shelf. They would target the underwater area known as the "grounding zone," where floating ice shelves, ocean, and land meet, deep inside unmapped cavities where the ice may be melting the fastest. Each robot would detach a ballast and rise up to affix itself to the underside of the ice, where their suite of sensors would measure how fast warm, salty ocean water is circulating up to melt the ice, and how quickly cold meltwater is sinking. As conceived, the IceNode fleet would operate for up to a year, continuously capturing data, including seasonal fluctuations. Then the robots would detach themselves from the ice, drift back out to open ocean, and transmit their data via satellite. This test was conducted through the U.S. Navy Arctic Submarine Laboratory's biennial Ice Camp, a three-week operation that provides researchers a temporary base camp from which to conduct field work in the harsh Arctic environment. IceNode has been funded through JPL's internal research and technology development program and its Earth Science and Technology Directorate. JPL is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26349

This poster highlights the JPL missions that provide important inputs to research on the carbon cycle and ecosystem interactions as measured from space.

This poster highlights NASA JPL missions that provide important inputs to research on volcanoes, fires, earthquakes, droughts, tsunamis, floods and hurricanes.

This poster highlights NASA JPL missions that provide important inputs to research on global and regional water resources. Water is crucial to life.

Artist concept of NASA Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, managed by JPL. It will expand our understanding of the origins and destinies of stars and galaxies.

NASA's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 undergoes testing at JPL. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22912

NASA's NISAR Project Manager Phil Barela (with hands raised) speaks with Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman S. Somanath about the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) science instrument payload in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Feb. 3, 2023. Somanath was among a group of visitors to the facility that included officials from NASA, ISRO, and the Indian Embassy. The NISAR mission – a joint effort between NASA and ISRO – will measure changes to Earth's land ice surfaces down to fractions of an inch. Data collected by this satellite will help researchers monitor a wide range of changes critical to life on Earth in unprecedented detail. This includes spotting warning signs of imminent volcanic eruptions, helping to monitor groundwater supplies, tracking the melt rate of ice sheets tied to sea level rise, and observing shifts in the distribution of vegetation around the world. The data will inform humanity's responses to urgent challenges posed by natural disasters and climate change, and help communities prepare for and manage hazards. There are two instruments on the satellite that will send and receive radar signals to and from Earth's surface to make the mission's measurements. An L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which uses a signal wavelength of around 9 inches (24 centimeters), and an S-band SAR with a signal wavelength of nearly 5 inches (12 centimeters). Both will bounce their microwave signal off of the planet's surface and record how long it takes the signal to make one roundtrip, as well as the strength of that return signal. This enables the researchers to calculate the distance from the spacecraft to Earth's surface and thereby determine how the land or ice is changing. An antenna reflector nearly 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter, supported by a deployable boom, will focus the microwave signals sent and received by the SARs. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, leads the U.S. component of NISAR and is providing the mission's L-band SAR instrument. NASA is also providing the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. ISRO is providing the spacecraft bus, the S-band SAR, the launch vehicle, and associated launch services and satellite mission operations. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25598

A boot that's part of a NASA lunar surface spacesuit prototype is readied for testing inside a thermal vacuum chamber called CITADEL at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Nov. 8, 2024. The thick aluminum plate at right stands in for the frigid surface of the lunar South Pole, where Artemis III astronauts will confront conditions more extreme than any previously experienced by humans. Built to prepare potential future robotic spacecraft for the frosty, low-pressure conditions on ocean worlds like Jupiter's frozen moon Europa, CITADEL (Cryogenic Ice Testing, Acquisition Development, and Excavation Laboratory) has also proven key to evaluating how astronaut gloves and boots hold up in extraordinary cold. It can reach temperatures as low as low as minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 223 degrees Celsius), approximating conditions in permanently shadowed regions that astronauts will explore. Figure A, showing the outer boot sole, was taken from inside CITADEL on Nov. 13, 2024. The boot is positioned in a load lock, one of four small drawer-like chambers through which test materials are inserted into the larger chamber. Initiated by the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center, the boot testing took place from October 2024 to January 2025. The boot is part of a NASA spacesuit called the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU. Results haven't yet been fully analyzed. In addition to spotting vulnerabilities with existing suits, the experiments are intended to help NASA develop this unique test capability and prepare criteria for standardized, repeatable, and inexpensive test methods for the next-generation lunar suit being built by Axiom Space. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26592

Aquarius instrument, including 2.5 meter reflector, in the clean room at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

is image shows a deployed half-scale starshade with four petals at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California in 2014. The full-scale of this starshade (not shown) will measure at 111 feet (34 meters). The flower-like petals of the starshade are designed to diffract bright starlight away from telescopes seeking the dim light of exoplanets. The starshade was re-designed from earlier models to allow these petals to furl, or wrap around the spacecraft, for launch into space. Each petal is covered in a high-performance plastic film that resembles gold foil. On a starshade ready for launch, the thermal gold foil will only cover the side of the petals facing away from the telescope, with black on the other, so as not to reflect other light sources such as the Earth into its lens. The starshade is light enough for space and cannot support its own weight on Earth. Is it shown offloaded with counterweights, much like an elevator. Starlight-blocking technologies such as the starshade are being developed to help image exoplanets, with a focus on Earth-sized, habitable worlds. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20909

The telescope for NASA's SPHEREx mission undergoes testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in September 2023. The telescope collects infrared light from distant sources using three mirrors and six detectors. It is tilted on its base so it can see as much of the sky as possible while remaining within the protection of the spacecraft's photon shields – three concentric cones that protect the telescope from light and heat from the Sun and Earth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25787

Perseverance chief engineer, JPL, Adam Steltzner, gives remarks during a NASA Perseverance rover mission engineering and technology overview, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The Perseverance Mars rover is due to land on Mars Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Media Affairs Specialist, JPL, Veronica McGregor, moderates a NASA Perseverance rover initial surface checkout briefing, Friday Feb. 19, 2021, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The Perseverance Mars rover landed on Mars Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)