The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Science Division investigates physical and chemical processes on the Earth, in the Solar System, and throughout the universe.

Methods for accomplishing scientific work pertaining to the nature of the Earth, the Solar System, the galaxy, etc., are addressed in the JPL Science Division.

Research in space science, as well as advancing technologies, produces the ability to implement missions for NASA.

For example, the JPL engineering team developed the Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot (LEMUR) to scale rock walls.

LEMUR did field testing in Death Valley, California in early 2019, climbing "a route up a cliff while scanning the rock for ancient fossils from the sea that once filled the area.