NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory laying off hundreds, citing budget gridlock

Due to a Congressional budget impasse, NASA has laid off hundreds of employees at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which launched numerous missions to Mars to search for signs of life.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), managed by the California Institute of Technology, is “the only federally funded research and development center,” according to NASA’s website. JPL announced Tuesday that its center undergoing mass layoffscut the budget from NASA and reduce spending authorized by Congress.

“After exhausting all other measures to accommodate budget cuts from NASA, and in the absence of a FY24 budget proposal from Congress, we have made the difficult decision to reduce JPL’s workforce through layoffs. “I had to,” the statement said.

According to the announcement, about 530 people, or about 8% of the company’s workforce, will be laid off. An additional 40 contractors working at the center will also be included, according to the announcement.

JPL said the institute does not have the “final word” from Congress regarding the “Mars Sample Return” mission, which will bring samples back to Earth from the surface of Mars. The group’s website says these samples can answer questions about whether there is life on Mars.

The center has already launched a rover to Mars to collect samples, but it still needs a way to bring them back. A NASA Independent Review Board report says returning the samples to Earth could cost between $8 billion and $11 billion. washington post.

JPL Director Laurie Lesin told employees in a memo Tuesday that research efforts will continue after NASA directed the lab to budget $300 million for a Mars sample return mission without hearing from Congress. The company said it has already begun cost-cutting measures.

“Unfortunately, these actions alone will not be enough to get us through the remainder of the fiscal year,” Lesin wrote in the memo. “So while we wish there were no spending and we didn’t have to take this action, we need to move forward now to avoid even deeper cuts if we wait. there is.”

Later, JPL explained that it would reduce headcount “both on the technical and support side of the laboratory and across various organizations” while ensuring it can continue its mission, including the Mars mission.

Lesin said employees affected by the layoffs should have been notified on Wednesday.