NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

How do real NASA missions inspire and inform science fiction? We got to find out! The team behind “Project Hail Mary” reached out to NASA as they worked to bring author Andy Weir’s novel to the big screen – and yesterday, actors Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, screenwriter Drew Goddard, and Weir visited JPL to talk about their experience making the movie and the collaboration between scientists and creative media. Also joining the discussion was NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren who, during filming, shared insights with Gosling on the awesome (and tough) realities of human spaceflight, like adjusting to microgravity.

There’s no GPS at the Red Planet, but a new technology developed at JPL now lets the Perseverance rover determine precisely where it is – without human help. Called Mars Global Localization, it’s made possible by tapping into a commercial processor originally used to communicate with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. Running on this powerful processor is an onboard algorithm that rapidly compares panoramic images from the rover’s navigation cameras with orbital terrain maps to pinpoint the rover’s location within some 10 inches (25 cm). “We’ve given the rover a new ability,” said Jeremy Nash, a JPL robotics engineer who led the team working on the project. “This has been an open problem in robotics research for decades, and it’s been super exciting to deploy this solution in space for the first time.” 🔗 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gPSywK6h 

Perseverance just did something it’s never done before. On Dec. 8 and 10, 2025, the Mars rover completed drives planned by AI – not human mission planners. In a first-of-its-kind demonstration, generative AI created navigation waypoints for the rover, a complex decision-making task typically done by teams on Earth. Teams at JPL leveraged a type of vision-capable generative AI called vision language models (VLMs) to analyze existing data from our vast surface mission dataset. The AI used the same imagery and data human planners use to generate waypoints – fixed locations where the rover takes up a new set of instructions – so that Perseverance could safely navigate the challenging Martian terrain. To ensure the AI's instructions were fully compatible with the rover's flight software, the engineering team also processed the drive commands through JPL’s “digital twin” (virtual replica of the rover), verifying over 100,000 telemetry variables before sending commands to Mars. The successful demonstration hints at a future where planetary exploration is more efficient and delivers even more science. “That is the game-changing technology we need to establish the infrastructure and systems required for a permanent human presence on the Moon and take the U.S. to Mars and beyond," said Matt Wallace, manager of JPL’s Exploration Systems Office. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gkH8YKUs

In 2025, global sea level rise was lower than average due to a mild La Niña, which temporarily shifted water from ocean to land. Global sea level rose 0.03 inches (0.08 cm) last year, down from 0.23 inches (0.59 cm) in 2024. The data record shows that the average global sea level has gone up by 4 inches (10 cm) since 1993. While it’s not uncommon to see short-term ups and downs, the overall trend shows that the rate of annual sea level rise has more than doubled. “The weather gives us a wild ride, and what we saw with sea level rise last year is part of that ride,” said Josh Willis, a sea level researcher at NASA JPL. “But that cycle is short-lived. The extra water in the Amazon is going to reach the ocean in less than a year and rapid rise will soon return.” Get the details: https://lnkd.in/g2KF2GrF

“No one could ever question the world-changing work that’s done at JPL. The only thing we need to figure out is how to do a lot more of it.” –NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman

Welcome to our universe, Dr. Jayawardhana! Following his appointment as the tenth president of Caltech, Dr. Ray Jayawardhana visited JPL to meet with employees and share his vision for the university, which manages JPL for NASA. A renowned astrophysicist and accomplished academic leader, Dr. Jayawardhana will become Caltech's 10th president this July, succeeding Thomas F. Rosenbaum, who will have served 12 years when he concludes his presidency in June. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/g5UUq632

As this trip around the Sun comes to a close, we’re reflecting on all that’s happened this year. * We launched NISAR and Sentinel-6B to study Earth from above, and SPHEREx began its mission to map the cosmos.  * Our Deep Space Network complex in Canberra, Australia, celebrated 60 years of service and broke ground on a new antenna.  * Our tally of planets outside our solar system reached 6,000. * We got to know an interstellar visitor, comet 3I/ATLAS. * We detected the largest organic molecules ever found on Mars. We look forward to bringing you more amazing discoveries in the new year.  Thanks for following, fellow Earthlings. 

2025 marked 89 years of daring mighty things. JPL was founded on Halloween 1936, when Caltech professor Theodore von Kármán and a group of graduate students conducted their first tests of an alcohol-fueled rocket motor in the Arroyo Seco. Today, just a few yards away from this historic test site stands JPL’s 177-acre state-of-the-art campus where scientists and engineers develop Mars rovers, deep space probes, and satellites to advance our understanding of our home planet. We look forward to all the mighty things our 90th year will bring!

A commercial spacecraft bound for the Moon has been put through its paces at JPL. Launches involve brutal shaking and astonishingly loud noises, and testing ensures mission hardware can survive the ordeal. At JPL's Environmental Test Laboratory, dozens of robotic spacecraft have been subjected to powerful jolts, extended rattling, high-decibel blasts of sound, and frigid and scorching temperatures, among other trials.  The latest subject for some of these tests is a full-scale model of Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 2. After additional testing, the flight hardware will head to the Moon’s far side next year. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/g_DCj7Dn  

Welcome, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman! This is a pivotal moment for American exploration, innovation, and discovery – and the JPL team looks forward to working with you as we continue to dare (and do!) mighty things.