Calabasas CA
6-20-2026 9:25pm

NASA Opens Bids to Manage JPL: Despite 70yrs With CalTech

An offer for bids to manage the research of JPL for NASA. This is the first time in the nearly 70 history of NASA & CalTech that a bidding process has been announced. JPL Prime Contract Update | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

"This announcement comes as no surprise. Caltech is well prepared with a team established last summer to ensure we are positioned for success, and we will respond to the request for proposal (RFP) once released."

There is no discussion about moving the location of JPL from Pasadena.

The entire bidding and selection process is expected to continue well into 2030.


  • 1891 - CalTech was established as a private research University by Amos G. Throop a local businessman and politician. The school was originally named after Throop until 1920.
  • 1911 - Legislators made an attempt to "buy" the school by way of the establishment of a publicly funded "California Institute of Technology," with an initial budget of a million dollars.  The presidents of Stanford University and the University of California, lobbied and the bill was defeated.  History & Milestones - www.caltech.edu
  • 1936 Researchers from CalTech begin pioneering work on rocket propulsion 
    • History | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
    • Caltech professor Theodore von Kármán oversaw pioneering work in rocket propulsion. After unsuccessful and sometimes hazardous experiments, several graduate students led by Frank Malina, along with rocket enthusiasts from the Pasadena area, moved their work off campus
    • October 31, 1936 -the Caltech group's first tests of an alcohol-fueled rocket motor in the riverbed wilderness area. 
  • 1943 JPL is formerly established
    • As the group improved their rocket motors, von Kármán, who also served as a scientific adviser to the U.S. Army Air Corps, persuaded the Army to fund development of jets mounted on heavy propeller planes to assist take-off from short runways. 
    • The Army helped Caltech acquire land in the Arroyo Seco for test pits and temporary workshops. Flight tests at nearby air bases proved the concept and tested the designs. By this time, World War II had begun and demand for the motors grew.
    • In 1943, the Army asked von Kármán for a technical analysis of the German V-2 program discovered by Allied intelligence. He and his research team proposed a U.S. research project to understand, duplicate and improve upon the missiles beginning to bombard England. In their 1943 proposal, the Caltech team referred to their organization for the first time as "the Jet Propulsion Laboratory."
  • 1958 - NASA is established
    • On December 3, 1958, two months after NASA started operations, JPL was transferred from Army jurisdiction to that of the new civilian space agency.
    • With Explorer I, JPL vaulted the U.S. into space and prompted the formation of NASA.
    • JPL is NASA's only Federally Funded Research and Development Center, operated for the agency by Caltech.
  • 2018 - NASA’s current contract with Caltech began on Oct. 1, 2018, and runs through Sept. 30, 2028

The national visibility of CalTech, JPL, and NASA was boosted during the 11.5 year run of "Big Bang Theory" which was based on the day-to-day lives of engineers employed by CalTech.

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