February 7, 2024
3 min read
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is eliminating nearly 600 workers due to funding shortfalls for the space agency’s Mars Sample Return mission
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is a research and development lab federally funded by NASA and managed by Caltech.
Budgetary issues have forced the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA’s chief center for robotic planetary exploration, to reduce its workforce by about 8%.
The cuts affect roughly 530 employees and 40 contractors, according to JPL officials, who announced the news this afternoon (Feb. 6).Â
“The impacts will occur across both technical and support areas of the Lab,” JPL officials said in a statement today. “These are painful but necessary adjustments that will enable us to adhere to our budget allocation while continuing our important work for NASA and our nation.”
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JPL, which lies just north of Los Angeles, is federally funded but managed by the California Institute of Technology. The center leads many of NASA’s big-ticket science projects, such as the Curiosity and Perseverance rover missions on Mars.
One of Perseverance’s main tasks is collecting and caching samples for future return to Earth. JPL is a driving force behind this ambitious Mars sample return (MSR) campaign, which aims to ratchet the search for Red Planet life up to new and exciting levels.
The projected budget for MSR has ballooned recently; last year, an independent review board estimated that the campaign will end up costing $8 billion to $11 billion if it gets off the ground by 2030 as planned.
These numbers alarmed some members of Congress, who have sought to rein in MSR’s costs. For example,…
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