NASA’s JPL unit to lay off about 550 employees, citing restructuring

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory unit announced Monday that it would lay off about 550 employees, or 11% of JPL’s workforce, as part of a restructuring.

The job cuts “are not related to the current government shutdown,” JPL Director Dave Gallagher said in a message to the unit posted on the lab’s website.

JPL is a research and development laboratory funded by NASA – the federal space agency – and managed by the California Institute of Technology.

“While it is not easy, I believe that taking these steps now will help the laboratory transform at the scale and pace needed to help realize humanity’s boldest ambitions in space,” Gallagher wrote in a separate brief to JPL employees and contractors.

Gallagher, in the public announcement, noted that JPL’s reorganization began in July and “over the past several months, we have communicated openly with employees about the challenges and difficult choices ahead.”

“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 budgetary discipline, and positioning us to be competitive in an evolving space ecosystem – all while continuing to accomplish our vital work for NASA and the nation,” Gallagher wrote.

Gallagher said JPL employees will be notified of their status Tuesday and the lab’s “new structure…will go into effect Wednesday.”