Nasa/Armstrong Flight Research Center, Lilly Ave, Edwards, CA 93524, US

With its sprawling campus located partly in La Cañada Flintridge and partly in Pasadena, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the US center for robotic exploration of the solar system. Established by the California Institute of Technology in the 1930s, JPL created America's first satellite, Explorer 1 which launched in 1958, according to the company's website. As the decades ticked on, the company sent the first robotic craft to the moon and out across the solar system, inspecting all of the planets up close. In fact, the website touts, pushing the outer edge of exploration is the reason JPL exists as a NASA laboratory.