The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a unique national research facility that carries out robotic space and Earth science missions. JPL helped open the Space Age by developing America's first Earth-orbiting science satellite, creating the first successful interplanetary spacecraft, and sending robotic missions to study all the planets in the solar system as well as asteroids, comets and Earth's moon. In addition to its missions, JPL developed and manages NASA's Deep Space Network, a worldwide system of antennas that communicates with interplanetary spacecraft.

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech. From the long history of leaders drawn from the university's faculty to joint programs and appointments, JPL's intellectual environment and identity are profoundly shaped by its role as part of Caltech.