NASA outlines JPL mission targets as lab approaches 90
By Staff Writer · Published 10/21/2026, 9:15:52 PM ET
JPL’s anniversary collage combines a 1936 rocket-test photograph with representations of MoonFall, SkyFall, Europa Clipper and Perseverance.
Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech · Official image source · Editorial use under JPL image-use policyAn anniversary release describes solar observations planned for 2027, robotic exploration targeted for 2028 and Voyager 1’s approaching distance milestone.
NASA described its plans for solar observations and robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars on October 21 as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory approached its 90th anniversary.
The release places SunRISE on a 2027 launch timetable. Its six small satellites are designed to work together as a radio observatory studying the Sun. For 2028, NASA lists two different exploration efforts: SkyFall, which would send three helicopters over Mars to investigate buried ice and weather, and MoonFall, which would deliver propulsive drones to the Moon’s South Pole.
Those dates describe planned missions. The announcement supplies no new funding total or detailed launch calendar for them.
JPL, managed by Caltech for NASA, traces its beginnings to rocket experiments in Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco on October 31, 1936. The lab launched Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite, in 1958 and joined NASA that year.
The anniversary account also describes work on NEO Surveyor’s search for potentially hazardous asteroids, Earth-observation missions and far-infrared astronomy. These projects extend the lab’s work beyond planetary landers and rovers.
NASA identifies another upcoming marker on November 18, when it expects Voyager 1 to reach a distance from Earth that light takes a full day to cross. The Voyager spacecraft continue communicating through NASA’s Deep Space Network, according to the release.
What it means
The release brings several mission schedules into one account, with SunRISE’s planned solar observations preceding the 2028 Moon and Mars targets. Those future dates and scientific aims remain plans; the anniversary announcement does not report that the missions have launched or completed their investigations.
Source
This State & Nation summary is based on NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s original release, dated 2026-10-21. The reporting and statistics above are attributed to that publication.