Institutional development · Research, innovation and assessment · United States
Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory marks 90 years since 1936 student rocket tests
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, run by Caltech for NASA since 1958, is celebrating 90 years since rocket experiments in Pasadena that Caltech says began the laboratory.
Why it matters: Caltech, which has managed JPL for NASA since 1958, is marking nine decades of the laboratory's space science and engineering work.
According to Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory traces its origins to experimental rocket-propulsion tests that Caltech graduate students, researchers and rocket enthusiasts began in Pasadena's Arroyo Seco on 31 October 1936.
Caltech said it has managed the laboratory for NASA without interruption since the agency was created in 1958.
Caltech said that the laboratory, then working under its management as a contractor for the US Army, launched Explorer 1, the first US satellite, on 31 January 1958, and that its Geiger counter detected the radiation belts surrounding Earth.
Caltech said JPL and the university are now looking towards the next near-century of innovation, discovery and exploration.
Editor’s view
Scott James, Research and Innovation Editor
For Caltech and JPL, the anniversary marks 90 years since the October 1936 tests, with the university saying it has run the laboratory for NASA since 1958 and is now looking ahead to its next decades of work.
