During the day NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California builds robots fit for space, but after hours they put their brainpower together for something a bit more rudimentary - pumpkin carving.
Yes, for the past seven years during the Halloween season these brainiacs have competed in an 'unofficial' jack-o-lantern carving contest, which NASA mechanical engineer Mike Meacham said gives them a chance to let out some creativity and bond. "I don't think, even at the time, they appreciated just how seriously our engineers were going to take it," he said about the first Halloween pumpkin contest - and the evidence is clear. From a guitar player to Charlie Brown on mars, these pumpkin ideas were out of this world.
The only limits were their imaginations, with three simple rules: no planning, carving or competing during work hours. "They do their funny pumpkin carvings in their own time," said Meacham, who's co-running the competition this year. "They go home, use their own resources, plan it out, and all we give them is a pumpkin."
While there is no prize (other than bragging rights) these competitors brought their carving game to another universe. To see these elaborate jack-o-lantern faces scroll down below! Official voting for the competition may be over, but you can still vote for your favorite pumpkin with us!
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Mike Wazowski
Martian Sample Return Mission
Flip Switch Lights On
Nasa Pumpkin
Nasa Pumpkin
Coco - Día De Los Muertos Suite
A Team
Nasa Pumpkin
War Of The Worlds
Baby Shark
Cookie Monster
I feel like I would have stolen one of the cookies as I walked by... I’m such a horrible person lol.
"Mars Samples Are Like A Box Of Chocolates. You Never Know What You're Gonna Get"
Polishing The Cannonball
An inside joke. It’s called the “Polish the Cannonball Syndrome.” This is a malady that affects organizations where design of new products is one of the mainstays of the business Since business today is all about “time to market,” the lower the time to get a new product to market can make all the difference in beating the competition. The “Polish the Cannonball Syndrome” adds a new dimension to why projects take longer than planned. It revolves around the fact that engineering will continue to tweak a product design despite it already meeting the basic requirements for functionality. This tweaking includes adding features, with sometimes little value, or making irrelevant improvements that don’t affect product functionality. Thus extending the time until the end product is released.
Charlie Brown
Duh... There Is Water On Mars!
Stranger Things
Space Force
JPL. Caltech EDU
Nasa Pumpkin
Battle Pumpkins
Signs Of Life
Day Of The Dead: Celebrating The Cassini Mission
Nasa Pumpkin
Happy Birthday
Leonard
Nasa Pumpkin
Revenge Of The Pumpkins
Nasa Pumpkin
Ghosts Of Pumpkins Past
Pumpkin Estimate Generator Comparison
Nasa Pumpkin
This is the reason why, NASA and JPL are now outsourcing jobs to Space X, etc... (If someone can explain this - please do). I see Global Cooling coming?
Meet The Spec
Jerry The Pumpkin
Congratsligo
I think someone has blue balls that turned black... unable to impact Mother Earth.
Building Partnerships Piece By Piece
Banksy
Mars Waste Management
Out Of Sight
From Squash world, we come in peace. Take us to the Great Pumpkin.
We Come In Proper Containment
Black Hole
"Mars Samples Are Like A Box Of Chocolates. You Never Know What You're Gonna Get"
So original and PC... How about Nasa predicting what they might find? Water and Life until recently? Oh that's new...
These are wonderful. There must be a large area in the building for all these to be displayed, especially the scenic ones. LOVE THESE!
These are wonderful. There must be a large area in the building for all these to be displayed, especially the scenic ones. LOVE THESE!
