Rob and Jo in the USA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory

"The Dream Workplace"

Once a year, JPL has its open day, well more a weekend and we went on the Sunday, getting there soon after it opened. Already the crowds were arriving. We saw an array of amazing things and were seriously impressed at what they do and at the quality of the open day displays - for all ages and all backgrounds.

Mars Rover Display: JPL designed and build the Spirit and Opportunity rovers currently roaming around Mars. They also designed and bulit the Sojourner rover. There were displays showing what the rovers were doing, and what they had found. There were scientists and engineers talking about what was happening; answering questions from the public. There were test modules of the rovers, and one roving around a small area showing its ability to traverse rough terrain. The JPL staff answered any and every question - Rob asked about all the different antennas and they gave detailed answers - we were impressed.; We tried on a glove from a space suit and read about the technology used to keep the wearer at the correct temperature and give the astronaut as much tough sensitivity as possible.

Mars Rover Test Lab: We walked past the windows looking into the room where the Mars Rovers are tested. There was red dust everywhere, and three rovers amongst the rocks and sand. There were heaps of lights on the ceiling - to simulate the heat of a Martian day and the room could become quite warm. At one end were the inflated balloon structure which allowed the craft to bounce across the Martian surface. It was quite large - maybe one and a half stories tall.

Mission Control: JPL's mission control looked just like the one seen on TV in Houston, Texas. Lots of desks with computer screens.

Technology Displays: there were displays on nanotechnology, microwave integrated circuits, optical and ???? processing. A lot of it was very in depth and whilst we couldn't understand it all, was interresting to read. We had our photo taken with an Infrared camera that JPL had developed. It was fascinating to see how people looked in it, and where the areas of high and low temperature are on the face and hands.

Manufacturing: We walked through the large workshop where there were numerous large and small machines - computer controlled lathes, mills, drills, machines for cutting shapes through a metal plate using a fast moving wire. Many of the machines were able to cut with precision of < 0.01mm. They manufactured the Mars rovers and many other pieces of space machinery.
Space Exploration: JPL is researching methods for travelling vast distances through space. One of these is using Solar Wind to propel the craft. Another is an ion engine.
Museum: Since opening in ???? studying, yes, jet propulsion, JPL has been looking to space. The first space exploration craft were designed and built at JPL and they had full size and scale models of many of the space craft they had built.

Image Processing: We visited image processing labs with porters explaining what they work on (java, image databases, 3D imaging) and watched a short 3D film requiring us to adorn ourselves with large bulky glasses - some kind of frame-rate synchronisation to enable the 3D effect. We also had our photo taken in 3D and superimposed on a Mars background.

Around the grounds were many other displays, rows of booths handing out stickers or wrist bands with promotion of their "mission safety organisation". There were displays on rocket engines, how to increase the reliability in space (eg radiation harden) of electronic components, lots of somewhat space-related activities for children of all ages.