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Southland Te c h BEYOND JET PROPULSION For over 50 years, Caltech's JPL h as turned space-age fantas ies into fact, become a m astermind be hind NASA, and expanded our perspective of the Earth, the solar system a n d the universe. t e x t 0 b y JANE PLATT n a b almy Saturday morning last June, as the sun streamed across the San Gabriel Mou ntains , a long line of people snaked down a tree-lined street. One might think they were waiting for a blockbuster movie or a new amusement park ride, but thi s parti cular crowd was eager to enter the Jet Propul sion Laboratory (JPL), near the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), during its annual Open House. Visitors wanted to see the l arge, sandbox -like Mars Yard, where rovers get a test drive before heading to the Red Planet. They were anxious to watch an infrared camera highlight hot and cold spots on the ir faces. Another crowd-pleaser was the Spacecraft Asse mb ly Facility, with windows overlooking steri le "clean rooms" where spacecraft are bui lt by workers wearing sanitized "bunny suits." JPL screened its Welcome to Outer Space documentary, narrated by Jodie Foste r. These were just a few of the attractions that drew a 44 So u t h l a nd FALL I WJNTER I 9 9 9 diverse a udience of 53,000 people to the two-day event. Step back in time to this area on Octo be r 3 1, 1936 , wh e n Cal tec h Left: One of many JPL spacecraft, the unmanned Mars' Global Surveyor maps the planet 's sw jace. More spacecraft will join it and bring back Martia n rocks. Above: Inf rared satellite views, such as this one of the Santa Monica Mountains, assist in determining regional weather patterns and changes in global climate. Above right: Designed in birds-eye maple by interior designer Roseanne Sachson, the Flight System Testbed facility was planned fo r three projects and now runs 32. I 9 9 9 FA L L I W professor Theodore von Karman and several graduate students successfull y tested a primitive rocket engine in a dry riverbed in the Arroyo Seco, near the Rose Bowl. Their experiments p iqued the interest of the U.S. Army. The Army helped Cal tech obtain land and funding for the development of strapon rockets to help Army planes take off from short run ways. World War II brought great demand fo r the rockets and for new technology to keep pace with Germany's development of guided missiles. The team at Caltech aptly named their organization the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Their military work continued into the '50s, but the space age changed their focus dramaticall y. JPL deve loped the first Ame rica n space mission, Exp lorer I , whi ch laun ched on January 31, 1958. Eleven months later, I N TER So uth l a n d 45 the Army turned JPL over to the newly formed civilian space agency, the Nat ional Aeronauti cs and Space Administration (NASA). With its unique he ritage, JPL is funded as a NASA center but is managed by Caltech. This successful blend of government and academia provides a campus-like atmosphere at JPL, which spraw ls over 177 acres in Altadena, La Canada-Flintridge and Pasadena. The patchwork of buildings tucked against the foothill s is dominated by 1940s and '5 0s architecture, with a few high-tech glass and steel structures. Squirrels, deer and other creatures freely roam the grounds. The lab provides fertile ground for sharp minds to push the limits of their imagination and design cosmic journeys, often turning science fiction into fact. With films and TV series like Star Wars a1~d The X-Files, it's no wonder kids and adults are drawn to JPL's Open House, where they can sort out reality from Holl ywood fantasy. In fact, JPL employees serve as technical consultants for many films. Over the past four decades, JPL has sent unmanned spacecraft to orbit or land on many solar-system neighbors, including Mercu.ry, Venus, Mars , Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and our Moon and Sun. In Jul y 1997, when the JPLdesigned and built Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars with its rover, Sojourner, millions of Earthlings logged on to JPL's website to see the first pictures. Mars' Global Surveyor is currentl y mapping the Martian surface-, and another spacecraft will arrive on the Red Planet in December. Future missions include one to scoop up Martian rocks for return to Earth for study. Left: Tucked against the foothills, JPL's campus-like 177-acre facility in Altadena, La Canada-Flintridge and Pasadena is funded by NASA and managed by Caltech. 47 space and Earth-based observatori es will study the formation of galaxies and stars and look for Earth-like planets that may harbor life. These missions are sequels to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, with its colorful , aweinspiring images. JPL des igned and built Hubble's primary camera. Planet Earth gets its share of scrutiny at JPL through a series of orb itin g s atellites and instruments flyin g on the Space Shuttle. The Topex/Poseidon satell ite tracks the Above: Desert-tested before healling to Mars, rovers Like this one can be seen in the Mars Yard at JPL's annual Open House. JPL's Galileo spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter and its moons fo r nearly fo ur years, gathering evidence that the icy moon Europa may have a liquid ocean. That prospect will be studied by the Europa Orbiter spacecraft, launching in 2003. The Cassini spacecraft, curre ntly on a seven-year journey to Saturn, will observe the planet and its most Earth-li ke moon, Titan, which may contain organic chemistry similar to materials that led to life on Earth. Another proposed mission wotild fly past distant Pluto- the only known planet not yet visited by a spacecraft. S o u t h l an d F ALL Then there are Earth 's second cou sins-t he rocky, pota to- shaped asteroids and "dirty snowball" comets. These cosmic leftovers may hold clues about how Earth and other planets formed. Stardust, c urre ntl y zooming toward a comet, will capture cometary dust samples and return the precious cargo to Earth. A small , JPL-built rover will hitch a ride to an aste roid on a Japanese spacecraft. And just in case an asteroid or comet should stray too close to Earth, JPL astronomers keep a watchful eye with their ground-based Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Syste m. " How did we get here? Are we alone?" These age-old ques tions inspired NASA's Orig ins program, managed b y JPL. Its sophisticated I WINT ER 1 9 9 9 fickle ocean currents of El Nino and La Nina , while the recently la unched QuickScat satellite wi ll monitor ocean winds and flesh out our kno wledge of global weather patterns. Other current a nd future Earth observations study ozone deple tion, tropical rainforests and causes of acid rai n. The New Millenni um Program, which includes the current Deep Space 1 ' miss ion , de-bugs new technologies for future mission s. Man y space technology breakthroughs provide important applications on Earth. For insta nce, infrared ea·r the rmometers use JPLdeveloped technology, and the lab has signed a licensing agreeme nt for use of a JPL computer c hip that may diagnose misfirings under the hoods of cars, which may boost fuel economy and reduce emissions. The lab 's non-s p ace ve ntures in volve infrare d cameras to help track forest fires; a document survei ll ance and monitoring system to protect the U.S. Co nstitution , Declaration of Inde pende nce a nd Bi ll of Rights; an d a Defe nse De partment battlefi eld informat"ion management system. Have you ever wondered "What on Earth are they doing at JPL?" Clearly, JPL sc ie ntists and eng ineers have expanded our view of the solar syste m and the universe, and j ust as importantly, prompted us to reflect on the wonders on Earth. •:•