NASA’s JPL lays off more of its workforce as budget concerns linger

In a letter to employees and contractors, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced a deduction of 570 personnel between its workforce and contractors. The lab sites concerns over NASA‘s 2024 budget to continue funding the Mars Sample Return (MSR) project it is developing at high enough levels to support its team.

JPL reduces workforce due to lower MSR funding

Tuesday JPL shared to its workforce that it will be laying off about 8% of its workforce plus an additional 40 contractors in order to reduce costs. This is all because NASA has begun cutting how much it’s spending on Mars Sample Return, JPL’s current big project, due to expected spending cuts to the program.

“After exhausting all other measures to adjust to a lower budget from NASA, and in the absence of an FY24 appropriation from Congress, we have had to make the difficult decision to reduce the JPL workforce through layoffs,” JPL said in a statement. While other centers, like Johnson or Kennedy space centers, are owned and operated by NASA, primarily with civil servants and contractors, JPL is a research center that exclusively works for NASA and is operated by Cal-Tech.

The lab also reduced MSR contracts, froze new hires, and cut operating budgets across the lab before having to lay more employees off. “Unfortunately, those actions alone are not enough for us to make it through the remainder of the fiscal year. So in the absence of an appropriation, and as much as we wish we didn’t need to take this action, we must now move forward to protect against even deeper cuts later were we to wait,” JPL Director Laurie Leshin said in a letter to all employees.

Emails and meetings were scheduled to go out today as to who would and wouldn’t be affected by the lay offs. These were followed by meetings for those who were laid off to learn about their options, continued benefits, and transition plans. The entire lab, except for a select few that required lab access to do their job, was remote today.

“We must streamline our operations while maintaining a level of expertise, creativity, technical agility, and innovation that will enable us to continue to do vital work and deliver on our current missions, including MSR,” Leshin continued.

Join our Discord Server: Join the community with forums and chatrooms about space!

Budget concerns continue to throw MSR into chaos

Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), began officially last October. However, neither house in congress has been able to pass the appropriation bills required for a full budget. Instead, to avoid a government shutdown, continuing resolutions have been pass that keep spending at FY23 levels.

Currently the Senate version of appropriation bill that includes NASA gives MSR $300 million for funding. This is far below the requested $949 million from the White House and what is funded in the House’s version of the bill. For now, NASA and JPL have to assume they are only getting that $300 million for the fiscal year and have had to reduce spending, which sadly means reduced progress and laying talented employees off.

“This decision is necessary because the FY 2024 appropriation, which already started on Oct. 1, 2023, has not been passed by Congress and the lowest level of funding approved has been reported by the Senate appropriations committee. To spend more than that amount, with no final legislation in place, would be unwise and spending money NASA does not have,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

The Senate has criticized MSR for potential cost overruns and scope creep, with a recent report showing a ballooning cost to return the first Martian samples to Earth. The Senate wants to keep the total cost of MSR to below $5.3 billion, much lower than the estimated $11 billion.

The current continuing resolutions will end on March 1 and March 8. If no budget or more continuing resolutions are passed, the US Government, including NASA, would shutdown and only support critical operations.