NASA JPL Tour
What is JPL?
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a research and development center funded by NASA and managed by Caltech. JPL is located in Pasadena, California, and its primary focus is on the development of spacecraft and technology for space exploration, planetary science, and robotic missions to explore other worlds within our solar system and beyond.
JPL plays a vital role in advancing our understanding of climate change, managing our Earth’s natural resources, and responding to emergencies through its spacecraft, satellites, scientific instruments, and aerial missions.
You can read about the remarkable history of JPL, how it started from a humble group of Caltech students and evolved into the nation’s planetary exploration program here: JPL History.
JPL’s motto “Dare Mighty Things” came from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech in 1899. Seeing JPL from the inside is truly fascinating and leaves you in awe of all the amazing things they create there.
How to Reserve a Free JPL Tour.
To reserve a tour, go to the “Free Onsite and Virtual Tour Reservation” website and carefully read the instructions. There are six options in a drop-down menu on the reservation form:
- Educational Group Tour
- Public Group Tour
- Visitor Day Tour
- Virtual Educational Group Tour
- Virtual Public Group Tour
- Virtual Visitor Day Tour
Make sure you know which option you want to select before the Tour Release Date. JPL publishes the next tour release date and time on their website. For example, June 2024 tours will be released on April 1st, 2024, at 9:00 am PST.
It seems that demand for the tours exceeds the supply, and tour reservations go very fast. Therefore, I recommend having the “Free Onsite and Virtual Tours” webpage open in front of you at 8:58 am PST. You should also have an idea of the tour type, number of visitors, date, and time you would like to select. Click the “Submit” button as soon as the clock strikes 9:00 am.
I had many options for tour dates and times when I did this, but then I decided to double-check something quickly for the date I wanted, and within a few seconds, 75% of the available tour dates were gone.
When making a reservation, you will need to input the names of the individuals in your group. For those who are 18 years or older, ensure that the name on the list matches the name on their official, government-issued photo identification document, which they will be required to present at JPL (driver’s license, passport, or resident visa for non-U.S. Citizens).
Keep in mind that “Anyone not on our approved roster will not be admitted to the facility. Substituting roster names on the day of the tour is not allowed.”
When you arrive (for an in-person tour) at JPL at 4800 Oak Grove Dr., La Canada Flintridge, CA, you will have to show your tour reservation at the gate and your ID at the front door.
Virtual Tour on the Website
If you’d prefer a quick overview of JPL, you can explore it through a virtual tour link.
In-Person Tour of JPL
The length of the in-person Visitor Day tour is 2.5 hours. The tour begins at the von Karman Visitor Center with a very informative video. Afterward, you’ll have some time to explore the exhibits in the visitor center. The visitor center features a chunk of moon rock and models of Explorer 1, Cassini, Voyager, Juno, SWOT, Sojourner, Mars Exploration Rover, and Galileo.
There are many interactive audiovisual displays and also a rover-like thermal camera pointing in toward the visitors.
Europa Clipper
One of JPL’s guiding policy in the search for life is to “Follow the water.” One of Jupiter’s moons, Europa, is covered with ice, and a salty ocean lies beneath the shell of ice. A solar-powered spacecraft called Europa Clipper is being built at JPL to perform an investigation of the planet. It will be launched in October 2024 from the space center in Florida. The tour guide mentioned that only 30% of the Europa Clipper will be made at the JPL location, and 70% will be manufactured by suppliers. They installed the camera in the spacecraft assembly room, called a clean room, and you can watch the Europa Clipper assembly process on your electronic device.
If you have an access to a 3D printer, you can print your own Europa Clipper model from this webpage, “Europa Clipper Scale Model – 3D Print.”
Mission Control
The tour continues to the mission control room where JPL sends and receives signals from spacecrafts. The difference between Houston’s mission control room is that here, communication with spacecraft occurs without astronauts.
The mission control room operates NASA’s Deep Space Network, which consists of three antennas located at equal distances from each other, allowing constant communication with a spacecraft regardless of the Earth’s rotation: Goldstone, California; Canberra, Australia; and Madrid, Spain.
Source: www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/dsn
You can watch a virtual tour of the mission control room on this website. When in the mission control room try to find two different clocks: one with UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) and another one with LMST (Local Mean Solar Time of the Mars’ rovers).
Mars Rover
At the end of the tour, we got to see replicas of the Mars Rover Perseverance (“Percy”) and the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter.
The main purpose of the Mars Rover Perseverance mission is to “Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.” Unlike other Mars rovers, Perseverance has a “thinking while driving capability” which means that with its self-driving abilities, it doesn’t have to stop to scan the path and process information about the landscape. NASA’s website has an interactive map with the rover’s landing site, path, and the most recent location on Mars.
The rocket in the back of the picture is a replica of the rocket that will assist with the return of samples from Mars. The idea is that the spacecraft in orbit around Mars will catch this rocket and bring the samples to Earth sometime between the early to mid-2030s. Watch this video to see how JPL envisions the return of samples to Earth. Does the Mars Rover remind you of Wall-E when it watches the rocket launch from Mars?
Visiting JPL with Young Children
- The tour starts with a captivating movie, but it was a tad lengthy for one of my younger kids. Next time, we will probably sit at the back of the theater so it’s easier walk out if needed.
- I appreciated not bringing our stroller as there are numerous stairs and narrow hallways to navigate, making it a bit challenging with a stroller.
- Please note that vending machines on the premises are reserved for employees, so it’s advisable to bring your own water bottles.
- And at the end of the tour they give stickers and keepsakes, a great way to encourage some children!
Video of the Tour
If you can’t wait to see what’s inside JPL, a few people have posted YouTube videos of their JPL tours: