Jet Propulsion Lab Will Help Company Adapt Innovations

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will work with an engineering firm to commercialize cutting-edge technologies such as infrared imaging and ground-penetrating radar in the agency’s latest attempt to give space technology down-to-earth value.

Under the agreement announced Tuesday, JPL engineers will work with Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. to study technologies that may have applications for the company. No specific deals are mentioned.

Pasadena-based Jacobs specializes in designing and building industrial plants--mainly oil refineries and chemical processing facilities--and cleaning up nuclear and chemical contamination.

Jacobs will be looking at technologies such as infrared imaging to detect pollutants; advanced mapping to choose plant sites; ground-penetrating radar to detect buried objects and electrical generators that use fuel cells.

“JPL has developed cutting-edge technology, most notably for NASA missions. We look forward to working with JPL in areas of mutual interest,” said Jacobs founder Joseph Jacobs.

In the past eight years, JPL has worked with about 150 companies to find applications for various technologies. With Mattel, the agency produced a toy version of its Mars Pathfinder. It was a hit with kids and adult collectors when the vehicle began roaming the Martian landscape last summer.

Much of Jacobs’ work in recent years has involved cleaning up radioactive and chemical contamination at sites in the United States and the former Soviet Union.