With many of the most intelligent minds on this planet calling NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory “home,” few — if any — projects could be considered insignificant. So when JPL Director Mike Watkins wanted to put a sign on the wall, it became a matter of, well, astronomical proportions.
The duty fell on the capable shoulders of Dan Goods, who is the manager of what is known at JPL as the Studio, which exists for projects such as this. Goods explained that the goal of the Studio is “to make things clear and compelling,” and he certainly succeeded in this instance.
Workers last week attached a large JPL logo on a highbay — “a place where we assemble spacecraft before they go to the launch site,” in the words of Goods. 
“There are a large number of people who know that JPL and NASA exist, but there are also a large number of people who do not,” he explained. “It was Mike Watkins’ idea. He wanted to remind the community that we are here. Be it Jupiter and Mars and the solar system, we are also right here. The community should know that we are here and doing things for the good of humanity.”
Goods’ first objective was to find a location that maximized exposure of the logo. Though JPL has all manner of electronic surveillance equipment at its fingertips, the solution was much more pedestrian.
“I had a friend of mine drive me back and forth on the 210 Freeway while I took pictures,” Goods said with a chuckle.
After a fair amount of research, Goods selected the highbay area as the best possible location. Goods designed a 36-foot vinyl logo that was affixed to a steel frame and placed in a bracket.
With its substantial girth and weighing in at 6½ tons, the project “all of a sudden became an engineering thing,” Goods said. “They figured out what we needed to do and we also needed to calculate the wind loads it could withstand, which are much higher tolerances than are necessary for a typical commercial project.” The logo was installed Tuesday, Nov. 17 and required a morass of cranes and scaffolding.
“We all know that we work at a NASA center, but it gives us a nice feeling to complete this project,” Goods said. “I feel like it was something bigger than myself. People who live really close to JPL know what this place is, but there are a lot of people who don’t.”
Goods said there are smaller logos near the main entrance on Oak Grove Drive but believes this is the first time the facility — which houses about 7,000 employees — has been graced by one this large.
A graduate of Art Center, Goods admitted he was “terrified” on installation day.
“I was afraid it was going to be off-center. Anytime you are going to put something up that weighs 6½ tons …”
He didn’t finish that final sentence. He didn’t need to.
