NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced Monday that it will cut around 550 jobs — around 10% of its staff.
In a statement posted online, the lab’s director, Dave Gallagher, said the layoffs are part of a broad “realignment of its workforce” and not a result of the government shutdown.
The cuts will affect positions across the NASA center’s technical, business and support areas, he said.
“This week’s action, while not easy, is essential to securing JPL’s future by creating a leaner infrastructure, focusing on our core technical capabilities, maintaining fiscal discipline, and positioning us to compete in the evolving space ecosystem — all while continuing to deliver on our vital work for NASA and the nation,” he said.
Gallagher added that employees will be notified about their statuses Tuesday.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California, is a research and development center that is federally funded by NASA but managed by the California Institute of Technology. It is where some of the space agency’s most iconic missions were built, including the United States’ first satellite, Explorer 1, which launched into space in 1958.
JPL scientists also designed, built and operated all five rovers that NASA has successfully landed on the surface of Mars.
NASA faces uncertainty over its budget and future priorities. Like most other government agencies, it has sustained major cuts to funding and personnel during the Trump administration — part of the push to shrink the federal workforce.
Around 4,000 NASA employees have accepted deferred resignation program offers since President Donald Trump took office, which reduced the space agency’s staff of 18,000 by nearly one-fifth.
In July, Reuters reported that around 2,145 senior-level employees at NASA were set to leave in the latest round of cuts.
Last week, as the government shutdown persisted, the Trump administration began laying off more than 4,000 federal workers across several other departments, including the Treasury Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. The cuts did not appear to affect NASA.