LOVE, love, LOVE! I wish I could give it 10 stars.
I went to JPL's website and learned that they offer FREE tours every month. You have to sign up and the wait list is about 4 months. But it is well worth it. The summer months in Pasadena are HOT, so beware. If your tour falls between July and September, bring lots of drinking water and sunscreen.
The tour varies, but you might see the Mission Control room, watch a few videos, or hear a brief lecture or two. You might even walk past one of your favorite engineers. Make sure your camera is fully charged, you'll want to take lots of pictures.
The Visitor Center is, how should I say this? Simply incredible.
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Having grown up through the 60's and 70's I was familiar with the JPL so when I found out tours are available I jumped at the chance to visit. The tour takes in mission control, assembly building and the museum. The guide is very knowledgeable and questions encouraged. It's a city or campus depending on your view and 6000 people work here. Security is strict but not over bearing. Parking is limited and beware that the souvenir shop closes before the tour ends.
Amateur of astronomy is of technology, I remain admiring of this laboratory which in the 70s was the first sent probes to explore our solar system. Today the technological advances allowed the JPL to send Oportunity and Curiosioty (for example), which allowed great Martian discovery. Thanks to JPL
Review of weekday tour-There is too much time spent watching the intro video. Someone one going to a JPL tour is already space enthusiast; we all know about the planets. Make the video shorter and focus on JPL. The guides rushed us in and out of each area and did not allow time to take pictures. Spend less time telling cute stories and more time letting people take pictures. Ask tour participants in front to trade with those in back so everyone gets time to take pictures with Mission Control, vehicle assembly, etc behind them. Most of my tour was looking at the back of people's heads.
Excellent science facility, extreme cleanliness, extremely intelligent staff. Brilliant discoveries and breakthroughs (including their work for many of NASA's missions of which JPL is a big contributor) JPL is the absolute best place to be especially during liftoffs and during its annual explore JPL events.
The JPL open house is a MUST SEE for the science fan of any age. Words cannot describe the access, the science, and the people. The people make the event- the director of solar system exploration standing there chatting about the subject, the person who manages Cassini just chatting about developing the program with our family was a once in a lifetime experience.
They open to the public once a year and it is a must that you attend because what they showcase is amazing! Try to get there early for your own driving and parking summary. There is not much shade so plan for that and bring plenty of water.
It is a shame we are not permitted to see the final orbit photos of Ceres even though we paid for them. Like the moon close ups , there might have been evidence of extra-terrestials. Such evidence always makes NASA go into lockdown mode. It might be time for NASA to be de-funded, and replaced with private enterprise.
There are no words to describe how incredible it is to be able to know a NASA building, especially JPL, where extremely competent people come together for the sake of science for the evolution of humanity. The building itself is from Caltech, but everything that is done in it is for NASA, so it can be said to be in fact in it.
The guided tour is for hardcore nerds, lasts 3 hours and has a lot of explanation. I was fascinated and ended the tours wishing there was more, but my wife was tired at the end of the tour. So consider this, not for everyone, but even tired, my wife loved the visit.
No wonder, it is a great privilege to know a little more about the place that sends probes and satellites into space, it is the central control of everything that man sent to space and is from the moon ahead, with people who are very serious about everything they do, being able to see it all up close is a tremendous privilege, especially for children, who can get in touch with such deep subjects while they are very young.
The souvenir shop is also very cool, several authentic NASA swags to flaunt around the world.
Plan your visit in advance and schedule on the site, do not miss the opportunity to meet the JPL!
Really nice grounds, employees are very friendly and helpful. Not sure what they do though, the earth is flat it should be easy to launch things into space.....
The JPL robotic missions to just about everywhere in our solar system, and deep space, have gathered massive amounts of data relevant to astrophysics and cosmology. These are subjects I write about and rely on data being published by JPL. Future robotic missions are critical to manned missions later on. Within the next 30 years, Americans will be living and working on Mars thanks to JPL. Now, as a child in the 1960's, in Deer Park, NY, I would get on my roof with my Edmund Scientific 900x refractor and occasionally point it at Mars. One evening, I thought my telescope had malfunctioned since Mars appeared to be nothing but a rusty blur. Later, I learned that I had witnessed a Martian dust storm that COVERED THE ENTIRE PLANET. Generally speaking, with today's technology no human or human habitat could possibly survive those dust laden high velocity winds. In a nutshell, Mars is deadly cold and its regolith is deadly toxic due to perchlorates and is completely and utterly averse to human occupation. Mars will chew you up and spit you out dead if you're unprepared for the worst. Don't be fooled by those benign surface images that mimic the Sonoran Desert. Colonizing our Moon should be the number one priority since it's alot closer, has no atmosphere, and 12 people have already been there enjoying the 1/6 gravity. As a species, we better have a really good reason to colonize Mars, other than the fact that it is "there" like Mt. Everest. Atmospherically it is 96 percent carbon dioxide with a smattering of carbon monoxide and argon and prone to wild dust storms that, as I pointed out, would kill any humans with the current technology we would bring with us. At some point in the near future someone has to spell out to the American public the exact reason we are fixated on inhabiting Mars. To me, our Moon is a far better world to inhabit from an economic/ strategic/ recreational perspective especially since China is now currently sending robots to the far side. Just think, it is absolutely plausible to do a three week or one month getaway to the Moon with current American technology. Investment money from the private sector, specifically from Elon Musk, could make this a profitable venture. It could be advertised as the greatest getaway package EVER!
Was really excited to bring my future astronaut but the reception we got was horrible. We were unaware of the 6 month tour reservation and the lady at the desk was miserable to us and made my daughter cry at her sheer rudeness.
Really awesome and fun place to go for space nuts! The tour was out of this world and provided a lot of information from how to stars are birthed to how they launched the first American into space. Would go again!
This is a great place to visit. There is a small museum with scale satellites and a nice gift shop. Be prepared to do some walking. It is a sprawling campus.
Now that Disney has raised their prices on annual passes, we're looking for a cheap place to entertain the curious mind of our 10-year old, and i stumbled upon the free open house that JPL is offering this weekend!! But no, that's not the only reason for the visit.. it sounds very interesting, especially with the new discoveries on Mars, and we are hoping to add our names to the waiting list for that trip to Mars
JPL is a true gem of Pasadena. They are on the cutting edge of space exploration and interstellar technology. Tours are great and always extremely informational. Definitely try to get a tour, it's not easy though.
This is a great place to visit. If you want a tour though, there is a six month waiting list. However you can go up there to get your NASA gifts, and you might see a few dear while you are there. You will see the sister of the Mars machine which they test on some red dirt which is meant to replicate the Mars environment. There areas with memorabilia, but most of the lab are REAL projects they are working on. It is a great place to visit if you are into Space stuff.
Well I was not allowed access into jpl. I have mentor who was an engineer for general dynamics. I was then prompted to take the bike trails to the man made dam in the back of jpl about 5 miles in . I loved it and I will be returning with others in the future..
jpl.nasa.gov
