Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Research and development center and NASA field center in California
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2025 | JPL officially ended Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hiring practices and removed its Chief Diversity Leader following federal pressure. |
January 2025 | JPL was closed and evacuated due to the Eaton Fire in Pasadena and Altadena, with operations like the Deep Space Network relocated offsite. The facility experienced minor wind damage, and numerous employees lost their homes. |
2024 | JPL launched the Europa Clipper mission to study Jupiter's moon Europa, targeting the moon's believed subsurface ocean. |
November 2024 | A second round of layoffs occurred at JPL, reducing staff and contractors by approximately 1000 people, continuing the workforce reduction initiated in February. |
February 2024 | Due to budget constraints and shifts in Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, JPL laid off approximately 1000 employees and contractors. |
2023 | JPL completed the OSIRIS-REx mission, successfully returning a sample from asteroid Bennu, marking a significant achievement in asteroid exploration. |
2022 | JPL's annual budget was approximately $2.4 billion, with the largest portion allocated to Planetary Science development. |
May 16 2022 | Laurie Leshin becomes the tenth director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, taking over after an interim period led by Larry D. James. |
December 9 2020 | The Museum Alliance rebranded to the Museum & Informal Education (MIE) Alliance, with a new pronunciation of 'My' Alliance to better reflect the diversity of participating organizations. |
July 30 2020 | Launch of the Mars 2020 mission, which deployed the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter to explore Mars' Jezero Crater. |
July 1 2016 | Michael M. Watkins becomes the ninth director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, serving until August 2021. |
2013 | By this year, the Near-Earth Object Program Office had successfully identified 95% of asteroids a kilometer or more in diameter that cross Earth's orbit. |
2012 | JPL launched the Curiosity rover to Mars, continuing its Mars exploration program. |
August 6 2012 | Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity rover successfully landed on Mars, carrying advanced scientific instruments for detailed planetary research. |
2011 | JPL launched the Juno mission to study Jupiter, expanding its exploration of outer planets. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.