JPL implemented its third round of layoffs in 2024 on November 13, cutting 325 employees—roughly 5% of its workforce. This latest reduction follows earlier waves: 100 contractors in January and 570 additional employees and contractors in February. As a result, JPL’s workforce now stands at approximately 5,500 employees. These job cuts stem from a funding crisis centered around the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, a flagship NASA initiative designed to retrieve and analyze Martian rock and dust samples on Earth.
I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Parker speak at my astronomy club and was greatly dismayed at how brutally and abruptly he was laid off at your prestigious institution. I worked at JPL as a temporary secretary while working on my software engineering degree in the early 1980s and loved it there.
Cast of Earth Data, from left to right: Kathryn Bikle, Ellis Spickermann, Cai Tong Ng, Jocelyn Argueta, Joony Kim, Anya Janowski, Armin Kleinboehl, the author, Maria Azcona Baez, Eric Smith, Joey Jefferson, Julian Wagner, Solvin Sigurdson, Jessica Kilgore, Josef Svoboda, Leslie Maxfield, Boyuan Chen, Maat Braaten. Just out of frame are Joži McKiernan and Michael Gutierrez.
