NASA JPL Visit: H. Takanashi, M1

H. Takanashi, M1, visited NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, USA. He is very interested in rocket engineering and shared that seeing the actual facilities was an incredibly educational experience. Special thanks to Dr. Iwashita at JPL, Dr. Ueda at Georgia Tech, and everyone else involved for their cooperation.

Places Visited and Comments:
1. Spacecraft Assembly Facility 179:
This facility is where satellites and rovers are assembled. They were working on the EUROPA CLIPPER, scheduled for launch in 2024. Having previously toured the satellite assembly facility at Mitsubishi Electric Kamakura Works, he noted that the JPL facility was approximately twice as large.

2. Mission Control Center:
This is where satellites and rovers are monitored and controlled. A single center manages multiple satellites simultaneously. Interestingly, many staff seemed to connect remotely from home, leaving about half of the seats unoccupied.

3. Von Braun Memorial Museum:
This museum showcases models of JPL’s satellites and rovers. The exhibits are arranged in the order of the planets in the solar system, featuring about 20 satellites with detailed introductions.