The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, responsible for the development and operation of NASA’s space probes, has laid off about 8% of its workforce, or 530 employees. The facility manager announced this earlier in the week and sent all employees to work from home on Wednesday. In this safe and comfortable environment, on this “stressful day” they should be informed via email whether they will remain employed at JPL or lose their job. NASA’s reduced budget is responsible for job cuts.
Announcement
Much less money for the planned mission to Mars
In a “Workplace updateJPL chief Laurie Leshin justifies the step with NASA’s request to reduce costs. The backdrop is also the delay of the US Congress, where the final budget has not yet been approved. This particularly affects the planned “Mars Sample Return” mission which will probably have to make do with a significantly reduced budget: instead of the previous year’s $822 million, only around $300 million is available, while the desired amount was $949 Millions of dollars.
According to the Los Angeles Times The job cuts currently underway at JPL are the second this year. Due to the “Mars Sample Return” budget cut, 100 people were laid off in January. With the “Mars Sample Return” mission, NASA and ESA want to bring samples from Mars to Earth for precise analysis for the first time. The Mars rover Perseverance is already collecting them and has filled an initial collection warehouse. It had previously been predicted that a lander, rover and rocket would fly to Mars towards the end of the decade. However, there are serious shortcomings in the preparation.
(mho)
