Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Managed for NASA by Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the lead U.S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system. In addition to its work for NASA, JPL conducts tasks for a variety of other federal agencies.
JPL's main 177-acre site is at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, California. In addition, JPL manages the worldwide Deep Space Network, which communicates with spacecraft and conducts scientific investigations from its complexes at Goldstone, in California's Mojave Desert; near Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia.
USGS, Pasadena Office
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Pasadena Field Office is located across the street from the Seismological Laboratory, at 525 South Wilson Avenue and 535 South Wilson Avenue. The Seismo Lab and the USGS together operate the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN), a seismic network of more than 400 seismometers throughout Southern California for recording earthquakes. The SCSN is part of the TriNET program, a cooperative project between the USGS, Caltech, and the California Geological Survey. The SCSN earthquake data is relayed back to a central computer in the Seismo Lab, where it is processed and analyzed by USGS and Caltech staff. It is then archived by the Southern California Earthquake Data Center at Caltech.
Planetary Science Facilities
Students and researchers in the planetary science option at Caltech have access to many off-campus telescopes, computers, and laboratories.