NASA Lays Off 550 JPL Employees Amid Budget Cut Threats

JAKARTA NASA will lay off hundreds of employees at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) facility. According to an announcement shared by NASA on October 13, there are 550 employees who will be affected.

This is a re-organization effort amid the closure of the US government. This layoff will affect a number of fields, ranging from technical, business, to support. All affected employees are said to have received a notification on October 14.

NASA stated that this layoff was not related to the ongoing government closure. This mass layoff occurred due to the biggest threat of reducing funds in NASA's 66 years of history.

President Trump's 2026 budget proposal plans to cut the total budget of the space agency by 24 percent. This cut potential forces NASA to overhaul its science and space exploration efforts.

"To position the JPL as best we can in the future, we are taking steps to restructure and set the right size to ensure success in the future," NASA wrote via JPL in a statement.

It is not yet known whether this layoff will have an impact on a series of JPL upload missions such as Psyche, Europa Clipper, Perseverance, and Deep Space Network. The proposed cuts are likely to jeopardize the Mars Sample Return and Juno spacecraft projects.

"While it's not easy, I'm sure taking this action will now help Lab transform on the scale and speed needed to achieve humanity's boldest ambition in space," said JPL Director Dave Gallagher.

The cuts are also part of a series of layoffs and operational changes that JPL has experienced under the Trump administration. So far, about 855 employees have been laid off in the previous layoffs.