NASA’s JPL lays off 5% of its workforce
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California
The Southern Californian NASA research and development lab, which works on projects such as the Curiosity and Perseverence Mars rovers and is the chief center in the USA for robotic planetary exploration, is going to be making about 325 of it’s workforce redundant with effect from Wednesday 13 November. JPL officials wrote in a statement on Tuesday, "The impacts are occurring across technical, business and support areas of the Laboratory…These are painful but necessary adjustments that will enable us to adhere to our budget while continuing our important work for NASA and our nation."
JPL Director Laurie Leshin stressed that this was not in response to the election results last week, saying "this action would be happening regardless of the recent election outcome."and in a memo to employees on Tuesday said, "With lower budgets and based on the forecasted work ahead, we had to tighten our belts across the board, and you will see that reflected in the layoff impacts." She also commented that, "After this action, we will be at about 5,500 JPL regular employees," she wrote. "I believe this is a stable, supportable staffing level moving forward. While we can never be 100% certain of the future budget, we will be well positioned for the work ahead."
Its not the first time this year that the laboratory has laid off staff, with 8% of its workforce made redundant in Febuary (equating to about 530 staff and 40 contractors.) This was partially due to a reduction in funding this fiscal year for the Mars sample return (MSR), a campaign to get material collected by Perseverance back to Earth in the 2030s.
Now, the entire MSR architecture is now under review, as the original plan was deemed too expensive and seemingly more nuanced than once thought, with no apparent solution found to retrieve the samples; last year, an independent review board pegged its price tag at $8 billion to $11 billion. Although MSR was not mentioned by any JPL officials, it was clear that funding is becoming a huge issue for the team, which is federally funded and managed by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
