The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has been forced to lay off hundreds of employees as a result of budgetary challenges caused by the ongoing gridlock in Congress.
The JPL, which is managed by the California Institute of Technology, announced on Tuesday that it would be implementing widespread layoffs due to a reduction in funding from NASA and the lack of an approved budget from Congress.
According to the announcement, approximately 530 employees, constituting around 8 percent of the workforce, will be laid off, along with 40 contractors associated with the center.
The JPL expressed uncertainty about the future of its “Mars Sample Return” mission, which aims to bring back samples from the Martian surface to Earth to investigate the possibility of past life on the planet.
Although the center has already deployed rovers to collect the samples, it is awaiting a method for transporting them back to Earth. Estimates from the NASA Independent Review Board suggest that the cost of returning the samples could range from $8 billion to $11 billion.
JPL Director Laurie Leshin informed employees in a memo that the laboratory had initiated cost-cutting measures after being instructed by NASA to plan a $300 million budget for the Mars Sample Return mission in the absence of congressional approval.
The JPL will be reducing its workforce across various departments in order to mitigate the impact of the budget reductions while ensuring the continuation of its missions, including the Mars mission.
Employees affected by the layoffs were expected to receive notifications on Wednesday.
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