NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to eject hundreds more workers

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will need to lose hundreds more workers as managers seek to meet the current FY'25 budget allocation.

Engineers and technicians use a crane to lift the main body of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft and position it in the High Bay 1 clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California (Pic: NASA) - click to enlarge

Approximately 5 percent of JPL's workforce will be laid off – amounting to about 325 workers – across the organization's technical, business, and support areas. The announcement was made in a memo from JPL director Laurie Leshin.

Over 500 workers lost their jobs in February, and the next group of staff to lose their roles will learn their fate today, November 13.

After the latest cuts, JPL staffing levels will be at approximately 5,500 regular employees. Leshin said, "I believe this is a stable, supportable staffing level moving forward." However, Leshin also cautioned, "We can never be 100 percent certain of the future budget."

That is a fair comment, considering the upheavals which could be arriving alongside the next US administration. JPL, readers will recall, is the place that had a hand in designing the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and developed the astonishingly long-lived Voyager spacecraft. Its place in future plans is uncertain at present.

Leshin acknowledged the challenges in the memo, noting, "Even though the coming leadership transition at NASA may introduce both new uncertainties and new opportunities, this action would be happening regardless of the recent election outcome."

Politcal appointees in NASA's leadership are likely to be replaced by the incoming US administration.

Garry Hunt, one of the original Voyager scientists, told The Register he was worried about the effect of the layoffs on morale at JPL and highlighted "the innovative ways in which they work and the clever ways in which they have developed things" as being threatened by the cuts.

However, Hunt also paid tribute to Leshin and the manner in which the decisions have been handled.

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Hunt added "the Mars Sample Return must be hanging over their heads." A rocketing budget resulted in a need for new ideas of how this incredibly complex and convoluted mission could be accomplished without such a high price tag.

While Leshin did not mention the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission as playing a role in the layoffs, uncertainly over funding for the mission can not have helped. NASA is in the process of evaluating alternative MSR architecture proposals from its own community and the wider space industry. JPL is involved in this assessment, culminating in a recommendation for a primary architecture for the mission by the end of 2024. ®