Every Halloween, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) gives its engineers a bunch of pumpkins and 1 hour - yes, just 1 hour - to come up with something impressive.

And this year they've really outdone themselves, with some of the most epic jack-o-lanterns we've ever seen - including a Pac-Man pumpkin, a 'useless machine', and a mini Juno spacecraft orbiting a pumpkin Jupiter. 

Although it's called the annual pumpkin carving competition, no winner is officially crowned, and it's become more like a science fair on crack, with each team trying to outdo each other in terms of engineering brilliance, pop culture references, and humour.

We've collected some of our favourites below from the competition last Thursday… they definitely put that sad pumpkin face we slaved over for 6 hours to shame. 

Yes, we're pretty sure that's a moving Solar System inside a pumpkin.

Does anyone else find this pumpkin cooking another pumpkin kinda creepy?

Darth Vadar in his meditation chamber!

No comment…

A pumpkin getting its face split by a starlight-blocking spacecraft, apparently.

And possibly our favourite entry… happy birthday JPL!

You can see all the entries over on Twitter, and JPL has uploaded high-res videos of some of the best mechanical designs over on Flickr.