Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Annual Report 2008

Nothing is more exciting than when science mines the far end of our knowledge for the new and the unexpected. In 2008, the world was taken by surprise when JPL astronomers announced the discovery of organic compounds on a planet orbiting another star. We were equally excited to learn from the Spitzer Space Telescope that many, if not most, sun-like stars have rocky planets roughly similar to Earth. Together these are very intriguing clues in our quest to learn if there is life elsewhere in the universe, which certainly has to be one of the most profound mysteries of our age.There are times when, dealing with unknowns, we are reminded to be humble. Very impressive progress is being made by the team developing our next flagship mission, Mars Science Laboratory. Ther conclusion, however, is that it would not be safe to try to fly during the Mars launch window in 2009, and reset for the next opportunity in 2011. We are lucky to have valuable assets that support us as we venture into the unknown. One is the global Deep Space Network, which functions both as our communication gateway to our spacecraft across the solar system as well as a research tool itself in conducting radar astronomy. Our successes depend on our entire team, administrators and business specialists as much as technical people. There are those who help share our missions with the public, finding imaginative venues such as sending out dispatches on the Internet's Twitter.com during the Phoenix mission. We also benefit greatly from the intellectual infusion that comes from our unique identity as a division of the California Institute of Technology and a member of the NASA family.