Space nerd family fun in LA this weekend: NASA JPL open house

Saturday and Sunday, June 9 and 10, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA opens its doors to the public for an annual Open House.

The event, themed "Great Journeys," will feature a life-size model of Curiosity, the
rover currently bound for Mars aboard NASA/JPL's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft;
demonstrations from numerous other space missions; JPL's machine shop, where robotic
spacecraft parts are built; and the Microdevices Lab, where engineers and scientists use tiny
technology to revolutionize space exploration.

JPL Open House includes hands-on activities and opportunities to talk with scientists and
engineers. For the first time ever, cell phone users, using text-message capabilities, will be
able to take part in a mobile scavenger hunt. "The Voyage" scavenger hunt participants can
search for secret capsules hidden across JPL and unlock secret codes.

JPL's Facebook page is here. If you go and tweet from the event, use the #JPLOpen hashtag. Details are here, and more photos are here. (photo: NASA JPL)