NASA JPL Tour

[johnner58]

The wife and I had the fortunate experience through a buddy to get a personal tour at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge just before Christmas!

Highlight was seeing the 2020 Mars Rover project in development, the playground where they test drive the Mars Rover.

We saw many satellite projects in development that are utilized to measure sea levels, glacier size, earth temperatures etc. There is a tremendous amount of scientific data collected by JPL over the decades that confirms the impacts of climate change to the earth.

Interesting story about the jar of peanuts in the mission control room photo, in the early days there were multiple mission failures that had the whole team down prior to the launch of the next mission. One of the team scientists wanting to break the mood opened up a jar of peanuts and shared with the team, the launch and mission went off without a hitch, hence a tradition was born where a jar of peanuts is passed around the control before each launch to this day!

Absolutely amazed at the brilliant people that work there on behalf of our Nation and the World!

 

[RitcheyRch]

I really enjoyed working there. I worked on the Mars Rover that is up there now. Also worked on the JUNO project.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/juno/

 

[monkeyswrench]

This past weekend I was showing my boys a video of the 2020 rover being tested in the clean room. Couldn't judge the size, until a guy got close to it...she's a hefty gal.
That place is supposedly a maze, and some areas are more "secure" than others. The tech in that place has to be come to life science fiction. Neat that it is also a massive collection of history as well.

 

[LOBOATOMY]

I enjoyed working there in the SFOF computer room. My pops was a 35 year employee of the "Rocket Ranch"

 

[Old Texan]

Thanks for posting. One can't see how awesome these places are from just the pictures.

I've been onsite at JSC over the years having done numerous projects there. It's wild seeing some of the pieces stored in places and warehouses that have been used over the years. Odd looking one of a kind pieces that were used for specific duties and tests.

The Neutral Bouyancy Lab and Vacuum Chamber were where I worked on stuff the most and to me most interesting

 

[RitcheyRch]

The rover that is up there now is about the size of a Mini Cooper

This past weekend I was showing my boys a video of the 2020 rover being tested in the clean room. Couldn't judge the size, until a guy got close to it...she's a hefty gal.
That place is supposedly a maze, and some areas are more "secure" than others. The tech in that place has to be come to life science fiction. Neat that it is also a massive collection of history as well.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

I'm there about every week. Awesome place! The clean rover build room is awesome.

 

[monkeyswrench]

...tours of JPL
...guy that worked on multiple projects at JPL
...guy who's there about every week
...at least one member that works on rockets

Yes sir, I gonna go out and work on that there old pickemup in a minute

I hope my boy's interest in robotics leads him to a clean room or propulsion type gig

 

[jeteater1]

When I lived in Altadena 16 years ago I was a contractor and worked for 5 very smart people that work there. Caltech too . Some of them guys minds are way out there.

 

[GOTTBoat]

I have never been in the good buildings there but have worked in the Pacific Bell phone office back then (now AT&T) when I worked for Northern Telecom. This office was dedicated to JPL communications which is on property. Normally a phone switch and associated network equipment this size is for a small city.

 

[Rajobigguy]

Never been in any of the clean facilities out there but did work on several pumps in the "rocket ranch" area.

 

[Crazyhippy]

My (much) better half works there. Her current project is Europa Clipper. Insane idea that requires such accuracy it boggles the mind, look it up.

Game nights are always interesting. Sitting around drinking with 25year old kids who have doctorates in things I cant pronounce! Had dinner with a professor of Physics @ CalTech not long ago, and the head of Space X (Gwynne Shotwell, Elon's #2 essentially) came over to say hello... Really small community for as spread out space stuff has become.

Highly recommend taking a tour if you are presented the opportunity. Even the "public days" are impressive, if a bit crowded.