NASA Announces Another Budget Cut at the Jet Propulsion Lab

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is federally funded but managed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), announced on Nov. 12, a budget cut of 5% and a reduction in force of about 325 employees. Located in Pasadena, JPL has already undergone an 8% cut announced in February, according to space.com news agency. JPL is one of the world’s premier centers for robotic space travel, carrying out ambitious and awe-inspiring missions of exploration of the Solar System and beyond. Some of the high-profile missions include the Mars rovers Perseverance and Curiosity, the Voyager probes, and the Europa Clipper, which was launched last month to investigate Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which scientists believe may have a subsurface ocean.