NASA competes the JPL operating contract for the first time in nearly 70 years
From the Space digest for Oct 31, 2026
What happened: NASA is competing the contract to operate the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the first time in nearly 70 years, per a Forbes analysis of the arrangement that also asks what universities actually do for the space program. The lab supplies its own backstory this week — JPL turns 90, tracing its origin to a Halloween rocket test in a Pasadena creek bed in 1936, out of which grew the laboratory NASA runs today.
What's genuinely new: The competed contract itself — the JPL operating arrangement hasn't been put up for bid in almost seven decades — with the Forbes piece treating that competition as a lens on whether universities still fit the space program's needs. No bidders, timeline or award date appears in the available reporting, and no second outlet's confirmation yet.
Watch: the named bidders and the procurement timeline, any NASA statement on the competition, and how the award question lands as JPL turns 90.