NASA’s JPL is cutting 550 jobs in the latest round of layoffs at its La Cañada Flintridge facility

Laff notices were issued Tuesday to 550 employees at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in response to budget chaos at the legendary La Cañada Flintridge facility.

The layoffs cut headcount by more than 10% and affected teams across the organization, according to multiple sources who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Reorganization for the rest of the staff will be announced on Wednesday.

“This week’s action, while not easy, is necessary to secure JPL’s future by building a leaner infrastructure, focusing on our core technical capabilities, maintaining financial discipline, and developing a competitive space ecosystem to accommodate us.” Statement Monday.

The cuts were part of a restructuring that began in July, he said, and were unrelated to the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1.

JPL employees are employed by Caltech, and no one has been fired since the crisis between Democrats and Republicans in Congress began. But the research establishment began preparing for a bleak future even before President Trump took office, and is facing one of the most challenging times in its nearly 89-year history.

“Morale is as low as anyone has seen it in decades, maybe ever,” said one employee who was spared the layoff. “Uncertainty is very uncertain … We expect more people to leave in the coming months due to continued uncertainty about the type of work that may or may not come.”

Layoffs and layoffs have reduced JPL’s total workforce by about a third over the past two years, sources at the organization said, from about 6,500 to about 4,500 after this week’s cuts. JPL continued Three rounds of layoffs last year Only, it has been encouraged by the huge cuts in the federal budget to suffer Mars pattern return mission

Eaton Fire came dangerously close On campus in January, about 20% of the agency’s workforce was forced to leave their homes. About 210 workers lost their homes in the fire, and dozens more were displaced for months.

Then in May, the Trump administration proposed cutting $6 billion from NASA’s $24.8 billion budget for the next fiscal year, a 24% reduction from the current allocation.

While both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will largely maintain the agency’s general funding, their budgets restructure money at the space agency in ways that could profoundly affect JPL’s work.

of the Housing Allotment Act NASA’s funding will remain constant but will be reduced by about $1.3 billion from NASA’s $7.3 billion Science Mission Directoratewhich funds many of the missions that JPL manages. The Senate bill, in contrast, would maintain funding for science programs.

It’s not yet clear how the latest layoffs will affect JPL’s work Drought, fire and climate change. No mission has been canceled or delayed yet. But with the impasse over, JPL’s future remains in limbo.

“JPL is a national asset that has helped the United States achieve excellence in space and science for decades,” Rep. said Judy Cho (D-Monterey Park). “Taken together with the holidays of the past year, this will lead to a loss of scientific knowledge and expertise that threatens the future of US leadership in space exploration and scientific discovery.”

Times staff writer Haley Smith contributed to this report.