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For decades, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has been a world leader in robotic space exploration. When the United States has sent scout vehicles to Mars, or probes to the farthest reaches of the solar system, you can be sure that JPL scientists were involved in the construction of the spacecraft and/or their operation. Now… a sign of the times? Late yesterday (February 6, 2024), the director of JPL Laura Leshin Announced in a note that NASA facilities will lay off hundreds of employees this week. The cuts come in anticipation of massive funding cuts in the upcoming federal budget, specifically related to the proposal Mars sample return mission.
This week, JPL will lay off 530 employees (about 8% of its workforce) and 40 additional contractors, Leshin said.
The budget for the return of samples from Mars is drastically reduced
This is the second round of JPL layoffs since early 2024. Los Angeles Times reported:
In January, 100 contractors at the site lost their jobs after NASA ordered the laboratory to reduce spending in anticipation of severe budget cuts for the Mars Sample Return mission, an ambitious effort managed by JPL that would bring back pieces of the Red Planet from return to Earth to study…
Although Congress has not yet finalized appropriations for next year, NASA has ordered JPL to prepare for a federal budget that could limit spending on Mars sample return in fiscal 2024 to $300 million, the 36% of the previous year’s $822 million budget allocation and less. of 1/3 of the $949 million the Biden administration has requested for the program.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement:
Spending more than that amount, without final legislation in place, would be reckless and would be money to spend that NASA doesn’t have.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Missions
JPL has many NASA programs underway, including the Europe Clipper mission scheduled for launch in October 2024. But, according to SpacePolicyOnline.comThe $8-11 billion Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission is a central element of the future:
MSR is proving significantly more expensive than expected. The top priority of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s two most recent decadal science studies, the NASA-ESA MSR program, would bring back to Earth the samples the Perseverance rover is currently collecting. In mars. The 2022 Decadal Survey estimated the cost at $5.3 billion, but an independent review last fall said it was most likely between $8 billion and $11 billion.
A change of emphasis?
I remember in the late 1970s, shortly after the end of the Apollo missions that sent humans to the Moon, astronomers were debating the relative merits of human spaceflight versus robotic planetary exploration. Policy makers formed committees and arguments from both sides were heard. In the end it was decided to focus the American space program not on manned space flights, but on robotic exploration of the planets. And explore what we have! It’s been a glorious time to be a space enthusiast.
Meanwhile, the human space program – the idea of sending humans to the Moon or Mars, for example – languished. We didn’t realize back then that it would languish for about 50 years…basically our entire adult lives!
And now humans are returning to the moon with NASA’s Artemis program. It’s hard not to wonder where the winds of change will take us next…
Bottom line: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a leader for decades in robotic exploration of our solar system’s planets, will cut 8% of its workforce this week.