NASA has awarded a contract to Caltech to extend operations of the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for five years with options for five one-year extensions.

The contract extends the agreement between Caltech and NASA for management of JPL beyond its current expiration date of Sept. 30, 2018 and has a value of $15 billion for five years. The contract begins Oct. 1, 2018, and runs through Sept. 30, 2023, with a potential extension through Sept. 30, 2028, for a total value of $30 billion.

The purpose of this contract is to develop and sustain core competencies in support of NASA-sponsored work in the areas of Earth and planetary sciences, heliophysics, astrophysics and aeronautics and space activities, to include the development of spacecraft and instruments.

Caltech also will manage NASA-sponsored programs that carry out competed and peer-reviewed research, NASA partnerships with other government agencies, academia and the private sector, and the operation, research, and management of NASA’s Deep Space Network.