JPL: “We need to tighten our belts”
“It has nothing to do with Trump’s election”
Cost reduction pressure likely to continue
image text translation
Panoramic view of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) located in Pasadena, California, USA. Provided by JPL.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a key organization of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which leads human exploration of extraterrestrial environments, has carried out large-scale layoffs. The layoff size is 325 people, or 5% of the total JPL workforce. JPL said the reason for the job cuts was budget pressure. JPL’s position is that this decision has nothing to do with the appearance of President-elect Donald Trump. However, there is a view that President-elect Trump’s attitude of placing importance on efficiency will be a factor that will put additional pressure on NASA to reduce costs in the future space development process.
JPL announced on its official website on the 12th (local time) that 325 full-time employees would be laid off, disclosing the contents of an e-mail sent by JPL Director Laurie Resin to employees.
Established in 1936, JPL is a core organization of NASA. It mainly develops and manufactures space exploration equipment. Unmanned exploration vehicles are searching for traces of life on Mars, and probes launched toward other celestial bodies in the solar system are also in operation. The California Institute of Technology is responsible for the practical management of the institution, and NASA is responsible for financial support and operation. This job reduction is also a NASA decision.
Regarding the reason for the job cuts, JPL explained, “We are in a situation where we need to tighten our belts to carry out the currently expected work under tight budget conditions.” JPL did not provide further details.
However, local media such as the Los Angeles Times analyzed that the ‘Mars Sample Return’ project may have had an impact. Prior to this layoff, JPL had laid off 100 contract employees in January of this year, and 530 full-time employees and 40 contract employees in February, and the main reason at that time was the Mars sample return project.
Mars sample return is a project to transport soil and rocks collected by Mars ground exploration vehicles, which have been active for several years, to Earth. We need to send an unmanned spacecraft to Mars to retrieve samples, which requires advanced technology that has never been attempted before in human history.
This costs a lot of money. Currently, JPL estimates that this project will cost up to $11 billion (about 15.4 trillion won). However, last year, the U.S. Congress notified the project to be carried out within the range of $5.3 billion (about 7.4 trillion won). There was no choice but to reduce spending as much as possible. There is an interpretation that additional job cuts were brought out as a way to cut costs.
JPL explained, “With this reduction in personnel, the total workforce will be approximately 5,500,” and “It is expected that there will be no other workforce reductions in the near future.”
JPL’s position is that this job reduction has nothing to do with the appearance of President-elect Trump. The workforce reduction plan was said to have been in progress even before the presidential election. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that additional financial pressure will be placed on NASA, which operates JPL, after President-elect Trump takes office. Although space development issues such as advancement to Mars led by Elon Musk have emerged as a major policy of the second Trump administration, the reality is that NASA spends too much money compared to companies when creating specific technologies.
A representative example is the Space Launch System (SLS), a massive launch vehicle that will be used to send people to the moon in the next few years through the Artemis program. SLS, with a length of 98 m and a thrust of 3,900 tons, was built by NASA and launched once in 2022. Additional launches are scheduled for one year next year and one in 2026. SLS costs a whopping $4 billion (about 5.6 trillion won) to launch once.
However, with a length of 120 m and a thrust of 7,590 tons, private space company Space For this reason, the domestic and international space science community raises the view that “it is questionable whether SLS will continue to operate.” This is why there are predictions that additional cost reduction pressure on NASA may continue under the second Trump administration, which declares strong space development and at the same time emphasizes cost reduction for the federal government as an important value.
https://www.khan.co.kr/science/aerospace/article/202411131321001
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