MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact: Franklin O'Donnell

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 21, 1998

CALTECH, NASA SIGN NEW CONTRACT FOR OPERATION OF JPL

       The California Institute of Technology has entered into a new five-year contract with NASA to continue managing the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a federally funded research and development center through the year 2003.

       "JPL has always been a unique institution combining the talents of the academic and government aerospace communities," said Caltech President Dr. David Baltimore. "We believe the synergy enriches both the Caltech campus and NASA."

       "This contract allows Caltech and NASA to continue their long working relationship at a particularly exciting time when JPL is preparing a great variety of new missions to explore the solar system, Earth and the universe," said JPL Director Dr. Edward C. Stone.

       The estimated annual value of the cost-plus-award-fee contract is $1.25 billion, for an estimated total value of $6.25 billion over the life of the contract.

       JPL's projects include current robotic spacecraft missions to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn; satellites and instruments studying phenomena on Earth such as El Niño; space-based telescopes designed to detect planets around other stars and to observe the universe; and technology development supporting NASA programs and partners in the government and private sectors.

       Further information about JPL and the programs it manages for NASA is available on the Internet at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov.

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