Here are a few pictures from my visit last week to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

JPL, the NASA funded laboratory operated by Caltech, hold an annual public open day in May.  What’s less well known I think is that they also run 2 hour (free) tours twice a week for anyone who can book ahead and has appropriate photo i.d.  (you’ll probably need to book a month or more in advance).

Hopefully these pics give a flavour of the visit which, thanks to JPL engineer Randy Wesson, was quite excellent.

Truth be known, I’ve been impressed with JPL’s communications since the late 1970s, when they mailed to me in the UK a substantial pack of planet and probe photos.  Ah, the things that went on before the internet!

Well worth planning ahead and booking a visit if you’re going to be in the Los Angeles area.

In the museum, full-size models of some familiar probes including Voyager, Cassini, and Galileo were on display.

Our tour took in the famous ‘Darkroom’ control room at the Space Flight Operations Facility, and the Mars Science Laboratory Project (MSL).

JPL’s Martian programs were in evidence, including the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and the Mars Science Laboratory Rover due to launch in 2011.  Spirit has over-performed against design expectations but is now stuck in the Martian surface: one of the laboratory shots above shows the simulation rig being used to test possible escape strategies.

For more info. you should of course visit JPL’s own superb website – where I see they’ve just started streaming live construction of the Mars Science Laboratory Rover.