All articles tagged with #caltech
Caltech’s Deep Synoptic Array will be built in Nevada’s White Pine County as a 1,650-dish radio telescope network designed to survey the sky 100 times faster and produce sharper radio images, enabling precise localization of radio sources for follow-up by optical, infrared and X-ray observatories; funded by Schmidt Sciences, with prototype dishes already built and construction planned to begin next year and finish by 2029.
Caltech’s Deep Synoptic Array (DSA) will comprise 1,650 radio dishes spread over roughly 12 by 10 miles in Nevada, designed to survey the cosmos 100 times faster than existing telescopes and relay radio images in real time through a powerful supercomputer, with data made openly accessible to researchers and the public.
NASA announced it will solicit bids to operate the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when Caltech's 68-year management contract ends in 2028, marking the biggest leadership shakeup in JPL's history. As a federally funded R&D center, JPL has faced cost pressures amid a booming private space sector, and NASA seeks a cheaper operator—potential bidders include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and universities such as Caltech. The change could preserve JPL's robotic-mission legacy while shifting efficiency and work culture, though funding and missions remain controlled by Congress and NASA HQ.
NASA will competitively bid the management and operation of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Caltech-run lab that has operated under a long-standing arrangement since 1958. The move, tied to NASA’s broader realignment and focus on faster, more cost-conscious delivery, could test whether JPL’s distinctive culture and staff can survive a change in operator—or require NASA to remake parts of its own space enterprise. The contract, currently valued at up to $30 billion and slated to run through Sept. 30, 2028, marks more than routine procurement by examining how much continuity of culture, incentives, and mission focus would endure under new leadership.
NASA will open the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s management to competitive bidding for the first time, meaning Caltech must compete to keep control of the lab it has run since 1958; the 10-year contract is worth up to $30 billion and runs through September 30, 2028, as part of a broader NASA reorganization aimed at boosting efficiency and mission outcomes.
NASA announced it will competitively bid for operating the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a Caltech-run lab for NASA since its early days, as part of a broader agency restructuring to increase center specialization and merge mission directorates. The plan could change how JPL is run and governed, though NASA says there will be no layoffs or program cancellations. A new operator could alter day-to-day management while preserving the lab’s scientific capabilities as the agency pursues ambitious Artemis-era goals.
NASA announced it will compete the contract to manage the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the federally funded R&D center run by Caltech since the 1930s. The current contract runs Oct. 1, 2018–Sept. 30, 2028 with a potential value up to $30 billion; the competition will evaluate whether alternative management approaches can boost mission performance, innovation, and cost efficiency while preserving continuity, the facility’s Southern California location, and ongoing missions. The procurement process has begun to ensure a fair, open competition in line with federal practices.
NASA announced it will competitively award the management and operations contract for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), currently operated by Caltech since 1958, with the current contract through Sept. 30, 2028 and a maximum value of up to $30 billion. The procurement aims to explore alternative management approaches to boost mission performance, innovation, and cost efficiency while preserving JPL’s location and ensuring mission continuity.
The FBI has launched a broad inquiry into the deaths or disappearances of at least 10 scientists tied to highly sensitive research, including four in the Los Angeles area connected to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech. The cases, dating from 2023 to 2026, involve Michael Hicks (died 2023) and Frank Maiwald (died 2024), Monica Jacinto Reza (disappeared 2025), and Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair (shot and killed in 2026), with Freddy Snyder charged in Grillmair’s murder. NASA says there’s no current national-security threat, and officials caution there’s no proven connection among the cases, though Congress is seeking more information from involved agencies.
A Pasadena high-school student, Matteo Paz, and Caltech researchers used an AI model called VARnet to scan NASA’s NEOWISE infrared sky data, processing about 200 billion detections to flag roughly 1.5 million variable-object candidates. The full catalog, to be published in 2025, could reveal new quasars, variable stars, and transient events, though many candidates will require follow-up observations to confirm their nature. The approach combines wavelet decomposition, irregular time-series analysis, and a convolutional neural network for classification, with potential applications beyond astronomy.
A YouTube simulation translates Voyager 1's ~38,000 mph velocity into an Earthbound scenario, highlighting its status as the farthest human-made object and its long-running mission, with contact likely fading after around 2036 as it drifts beyond Earth’s Deep Space Network.
A 29-year-old man, Freddy Snyder, was charged with murder after allegedly shooting 67-year-old Caltech scientist Carl Grillmair on the porch of his Llano home, following a carjacking incident; bail is set at $2 million. Grillmair, a Caltech researcher focused on dark matter and exoplanets, was remembered by colleagues for his teaching and ingenuity.
A 29-year-old Llano man, Freddy Snyder, is charged with murder after allegedly carjacking his own relative and burglarizing a home, which led to the fatal shooting of Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair on his Llano porch; authorities say the suspect and the victim did not know each other, and bail is set at $2 million.
A renowned Caltech astronomer, Carl Grillmair, who studied distant planets and the Milky Way, was shot and killed at his Llano home outside Los Angeles. Authorities arrested 29-year-old Freddy Snyder, charging him with Grillmair’s murder as well as related carjacking and burglary in other cases. Grillmair’s decades-long career included leadership at Caltech’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center and NASA collaborations, earning a NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2011 for a discovery related to water on a distant planet.
A renowned astrophysicist, Carl Grillmair, 67, who contributed to the discovery of water on a distant planet, was shot dead on the front porch of his Llano, California home. Detectives later arrested 29-year-old Freddy Snyder on murder, carjacking and burglary charges with a $2 million bail; motive remains undisclosed and the investigation is ongoing. Grillmair, tied to Caltech and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, was celebrated for his work in astronomy and for building an observatory at his Antelope Valley residence.