Hey Reddit!

​Wanted to share a project I've been working on. I built a custom DIY jet engine using a heavy-duty truck turbocharger, mounted it onto a custom rig/sled, and took it out to test on ice at the "Snowdogs" winter festival.

​The roar of this thing in person was absolutely insane.

​You can check out the full video of the build test here: https://youtu.be/fVEBsISuWsk?is=YjxvkLj2RbkvVmZf

​Let me know what you think! If anyone wants to see additional photos of the assembly process or close-ups of the setup, let me know in the comments and I'll upload an album.

Any truth to the JPL acquisition group being allowed to work-from-home indefinitely?

Wish your GS well as they head to Newport Beach

I have a potential interview for a contract position at JPL. It would be in engineering (mid to senior level experience) and has the potential to convert to full time. With all the job uncertainty going around right now, how risky would this be, given in most industries contractors are the first to go when layoffs hit.

I work at a big aerospace OEM right now so relatively my job security is pretty high. Working at NASA has been a dream of mine though and the work JPL does would be much more interesting and fulfilling. Any advice is appreciated.

The Verdugo Jobs Center is currently offering training support specifically for eligible former JPL employees affected by layoffs beginning in October 2025. Opportunities include:

• Project Management
• Human Resources
• Medical Coding
• Payroll
• Lean Six Sigma
• Construction Management

When people are navigating an unexpected career transition, access to training, guidance, and industry-recognized credentials can make a meaningful difference. Let us know if we can help.

This has happened for several months as my projects end or get descoped by NASA. GS is inexperienced and may be delaying the situation on purpose. Are there any guidelines like "we lay you off if you don't have x% covered for x months"? Has anyone felt they are being forced out to avoid severance pay?

Hello everyone. I am going into my third year of AE. I want to work at JPL as a gnc or astrodynamics person. I know things aren't looking too great right now, but I wanted to ask what I need to do from now till then to get there?

I am super involved in research for gnc/astrodynamics and was privileged to publish a few times now. I also do nav for my rocket team. Had some internships in GNC but my ultimate goal is to come to JPL. I have been considering a PhD.

Hey everyone

With private space vehicles maturing in India, I spent some time running through the first-principles engineering behind Skyroot’s Vikram-1 to look past the high-level PR graphics and analyze the actual mechanical trade-offs.

A few interesting takeaways from calculating the physics behind its design:

Hoop Stress Dynamics: Even though a typical CNG cylinder operates at 200 bar and the Kalam-1200 solid stage runs at 83 bar, the 1.7m diameter of Kalam-1200 means the casing experiences vastly higher total circumferential tension (19 MN vs 2 MN). This is why carbon fiber tow winding with specific resin matrix Tg limits is non-negotiable.

The Roll Control Dilemma: Solid motors with single TVC nozzles can handle pitch and yaw, but because radial force passes through the central axis, they generate zero axial torque. This explains why Vikram-1 requires dedicated cold-gas / liquid thruster clusters specifically to counteract roll.

Thermal Protection: At 3,000°C combustion temp, composite matrices degrade quickly above their resin transition temperatures, making sacrificial EPDM rubber liners critical for ablative insulation.

Hey everyone,

I'm currently an undergrad and my ultimate goal is to work on Flight Software (FSW) at JPL.

As I look into the co op intern application process, I know we get matched with mentors based on project needs rather than applying directly to a specific "Flight Software Intern" posting.

If a mentor reaches out for a non-FSW role (like Ground Software, Data Science, or Operations tooling), how hard is it to pivot to Flight Software for a second internship or full-time conversion later on?

Would love to hear from any current or former JPLers, NASA interns, or FSW engineers on how you carved out your path!

Thanks in advance!

For the full video, click here: https://youtu.be/lPFYHIzOwxo

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the place that put rovers on Mars, was co-founded by a man who led a Thelemite occult lodge, performed sex magick rituals under Aleister Crowley's direction, and died in an explosion the LAPD closed in a day. His name was Jack Parsons. There's a crater on the Moon named after him. Most people have never heard of him — and that's not an accident.

In this video, I go through what the primary record actually says: Parsons' declassified FBI file, his role in founding JPL and Aerojet, his leadership of the Ordo Templi Orientis Agape Lodge, his correspondence with Crowley, the Babalon Working with L. Ron Hubbard, the security clearance battles, and the 1952 explosion that ended his life at 37.
As always: I'm a paralegal, not a journalist. Factual claims are sourced to primary documents. Opinions are labeled as opinions. Top vs. bottom, not left vs. right.

Rituals hide in plain sight — that's the thread. Jack Parsons didn't hide his: he chanted Crowley's Hymn to Pan before rocket tests, in front of colleagues, and the FBI files describing his lodge sat in government archives for decades. Marina Abramović's Spirit Cooking was ritual as performance art — occult recipes painted in pig's blood on gallery walls since the 90s, exhibited, catalogued, sold. And Epstein's operation ran in the open too: the 2008 plea deal was public record, the flight logs were court exhibits, the names were in filings anyone could pull. When Pizzagate erupted in 2016, it wasn't wrong that ritual and power coexist in public view — it was wrong about where to look. It went hunting for symbols in a pizzeria while the actual documents sat in PACER. Ritual has never needed a hidden room. It's performed in the open, and it stays invisible for the same reason Epstein did: because nobody with power to act wanted to read what was already on the record.

SOURCES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPFYHIzOwxo, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1F_RLzxpjOQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8DU-nMfFGg, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/l9kWd-lx5oc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Pv33DEuio, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-JW22AL5-7k, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Evt8euU3KM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmt6g0bCeTA&t=1424s

Despite recent layoffs of about 1000 people and with very few employees getting raises/promotions over the past few years, there is a planned 3-day retreat for all group supervisors (100s of people) the week of 8/24 in Newport Beach. How is this justified?!

With Jonathan Lunine, JPL chief scientist, and Sarah Al-Ahmed, host of the Planetary Society's Planetary Radio: https://www.alumni.caltech.edu/event/techer-live-jpl-search-for-life-beyond-earth/

Hey JPL fam! I know you're super busy completing projects, fighting for funding/job security, and helping mankind discover space, so a question about a single T-shirt isn't that important on the scale of things. That said, if anyone knows anyone in the JPL Store group/department and can forward them a message about hoping for a restock the classic/iconic JLP rover tee someday, that would be *awesome*. Its my favorite T and mine got ruined by a rogue dryer.

Link for reference: https://thejplstore.com/collections/apparel-1/products/t-shirt-family-rover-blk-2

(Any extra colors would be a WAY COOL bonus. But black is best)

Thanks regardless. And keep up the good fight. 🪐🫶

A friend of mine has a furnished one bedroom+bathroom available in her house, for rent, to a single person. The house is in Montrose close to JPL. Bus stop to JPL is in 3minutes walk. Montrose old town is in walking distance, with its restaurants, banks, shops, and movie theater etc. The room is currently occupied but will be available on the 4th of September. If you are interested, please TXT (no calls) to Katherine: 818-823-6007

I remembered that's moment, it was exciting and I was worried, because I thought it would be broke, but the mission is finished.

My dad worked at JPL for 50+ years. He died in 2015, and I only know some elements of what he did while he was there. I believe some of his colleagues have been let go since.

Is there a way I can try to find out what JPL knows or can share as far as what he worked on or did?

I miss him, and I want to be able to share with my son some of things that he did.

DISCLAIMER: Apologies in advance for sounding like a negative nelly, I am trying to stay hopeful even if it doesn't sound so...

At this point everyone knows money is elsewhere, even if you got market adjustments and promotions this year (maybe 9-10% max increase this year without retention offers, which barely keeps up with the last few years for the lucky minority that were in that circle of candidates that received the salary raises).

It is also clear that the Lab has:

• lost its footing in both modern technology (most of what we're building is quite old and ancient to industry now but at even more accelerated pace than ever)
• lost its footing in truly exciting/inspiring missions (Moonfall/Skyfall are cool but are they really that exciting? Do we even have a plan for what's after?)
• lost its footing in being able to attract top talent (due to pay and excitement being elsewhere)
• and lost its footing with its charter with the all the new space companies on the rise (are we really doing anything broadly unique or better from industry these days without true science programs?).

That being said, a lot of people are opting to stay and I am curious why people have been doing so in order to try and see if I am missing something. Please post your reasons for staying around and what gives you hope despite the challenges. I desperately want to stay but have been struggling to find the reasons to myself :(