JPL Braces for New Layoffs as Scientists Face "Double Hit" After Wildfire Devastation


Layoffs coming to Pasadena’s JPL: Here’s what we know – Orange County Register

PASADENA, CA — NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed Monday it will proceed with another round of layoffs in October, compounding the misery for scientists still reeling from wildfire losses and marking the latest blow to the celebrated research institution amid sweeping federal budget cuts.

The announcement comes at a particularly devastating time: at least 200 JPL employees lost their homes in January's Eaton fire, and now face potential job loss as the laboratory grapples with funding cuts driven by the Trump administration's proposed 24% reduction to NASA's budget.

"This is a double hit for them," Rep. Judy Chu (D-Pasadena) said Monday. "They are clearly suffering from the chaos of losing their homes, dealing with difficult financial issues. To have this heaped on them on top of that is cruel and unjust."

Disputed Numbers, Confirmed Crisis

While JPL confirmed October layoffs are coming, officials strongly disputed reports suggesting 3,000 to 4,000 employees—up to 73% of the workforce—could be cut by Oct. 15. The laboratory called such figures "vastly incorrect and lacking attribution," though it declined to provide actual numbers.

Rep. Chu, citing Caltech lobbyists in Washington, confirmed the vastly incorrect nature of those estimates while acknowledging layoffs will occur.

Keith Cowing, founder of nasawatch.com, defended his reporting of the higher numbers, saying multiple distressed JPL employees—some crying—told him they'd heard the 4,000 figure. He said sources feared retaliation for speaking publicly. A Sept. 26 JPL Human Resources email referenced "Phase Two reorganization and upcoming layoff in October," instructing employees to update personal contact information and remove personal files from JPL devices.

Year of Cascading Cuts

The October layoffs would mark JPL's fourth major workforce reduction since January 2024. The pattern:

January 2024: 100 contractors laid off February 2024: 530 employees (8% of workforce) plus 40 contractors November 2024: 325 employees (5% of workforce) October 2025: Number undisclosed

After the November cuts, then-director Laurie Leshin assured staff it would be "the last cross-lab workforce action we will need to take in the foreseeable future," stabilizing at about 5,500 employees. That promise lasted less than a year. Leshin resigned in May 2025 "for personal reasons" and was replaced by David Gallagher.

Personal Toll on Scientists

The human cost extends beyond statistics. Employees interviewed by The California Tech described a transformed workplace culture and seemingly arbitrary selection criteria.

"First round of layoffs, people had questions about what were the whole criteria?" said a former administrative liaison who worked at JPL. "You had people who were there in lab a year, and veterans who were there twenty-five, thirty-five years. You had engineers, you had staff assistants."

One employee who served over 25 years reflected: "It was a great place to work. I didn't expect to stay as long as I did, but my career evolved organically. So it's still a gut punch. I knew layoffs were coming; I just didn't expect to be caught up in them."

The November 2024 cuts eliminated JPL's K-12 education office—unusual among NASA centers, where public outreach is typically a top priority. "Educating the general public and children about NASA and science is how a lot of people get into STEM," a former operations systems engineer lamented.

Mars Mission at Center of Crisis

The layoffs stem directly from budget turmoil surrounding the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission—NASA's highest planetary science priority, designed to bring Martian rock samples to Earth for the first time.

The mission's costs ballooned from an original $4 billion to as much as $11 billion, with sample return pushed to 2040. In April 2024, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson declared "$11 billion is too expensive, and not returning samples until 2040 is unacceptably too long," opening the mission to industry proposals for cheaper alternatives.

Congress slashed MSR funding from the requested $949 million to just $300 million for fiscal 2024—a 68% cut. For fiscal 2025, NASA requested only $200 million. California lawmakers, led by Senators Alex Padilla and then-Rep. Adam Schiff (now senator-elect), protested vigorously but unsuccessfully.

In April 2025, the Trump administration proposed eliminating MSR funding entirely as part of a "skinny budget" that would cut NASA's overall budget by 24.3%, from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. The White House claimed MSR is "grossly over budget" and its goals would be achieved by future human missions to Mars.

Congressional Response

Rep. Chu warned the layoffs would cause generational damage. "What we will lose is a whole generation of scientists who developed expertise in cutting edge space missions," including climate and air quality research. She noted space program innovations led to technologies like camera phones and freeze-dried foods.

Chu and other lawmakers drafted a bipartisan letter urging President Trump and congressional leaders to protect NASA and NOAA funding, arguing both agencies are essential for scientific discovery and public safety, including detecting hurricanes, floods and dangerous windstorms.

Senator Alex Padilla said in a statement that the cuts are "devastating for our local workforce and will set California and America's scientific and space leadership back significantly at this critical moment."

Compounding Crises

The timing couldn't be worse for JPL's Pasadena-area workforce. The January Eaton fire impacted over 1,000 JPL employees, with nearly 200 losing their homes entirely. JPL launched a disaster relief fund that raised over $2 million.

Among those affected: JPL scientists Jason Rhodes and Alina Kiessling, who lost their Altadena home while preparing to bring home newborn twins. "It went from us preparing to leave to deciding we had to leave right away. Within just a couple of minutes," Rhodes recalled.

The crisis occurs against a backdrop of other workforce pressures. In May 2025, JPL ended telework policies, requiring all 5,500+ employees to return to in-person work or resign—a move some employees described as a "silent layoff" to avoid severance payments. The policy posed particular hardships for fire-displaced workers and those living outside California.

Additionally, JPL management launched an anti-union website in September 2025 as employees explored unionization—timing that union advocates called "union busting" amid layoff threats.

Uncertain Future

The October layoffs coincide with a federal government shutdown now in its sixth day. President Trump initially threatened thousands of federal layoffs during the shutdown but walked back that position Monday, though job losses remain possible if Congress doesn't restore funding.

JPL's long history of achievements—from the Viking and Voyager missions of the 1970s to recent Mars rovers and the Europa Clipper mission—faces an uncertain future. As a federally funded research center managed by Caltech rather than NASA directly, JPL occupies a unique position that may offer some insulation from government shutdowns but leaves it vulnerable to NASA budget decisions.

Whether October's cuts fulfill Leshin's earlier promise of stabilization or mark another step in JPL's downsizing remains unclear. What is certain: hundreds of scientists who've dedicated careers to exploring the cosmos now face their own uncertain futures.

Sources

  1. Scauzillo, Steve. "Layoffs coming to Pasadena's JPL: Here's what we know." Orange County Register, October 6, 2025. https://www.ocregister.com/

  2. Cowing, Keith. "JPLers Get Layoff Update Letter." NASA Watch, September 26, 2025. https://nasawatch.com/personnel-news/jplers-get-layoff-update-letter/

  3. Leshin, Laurie. "JPL Workforce Update." NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, November 12, 2024. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/jpl-workforce-update_-/

  4. Leshin, Laurie. "JPL Workforce Update." NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, February 6, 2024. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/jpl-workforce-update/

  5. "Practicing Resilience at a Downsized JPL." The California Tech, February 18, 2025. https://tech.caltech.edu/2025/02/18/practicing-resilience-at-a-downsized-jpl/

  6. Foust, Jeff. "JPL announces new round of layoffs." SpaceNews, November 13, 2024. https://spacenews.com/jpl-announces-new-round-of-layoffs/

  7. Choi, Charles. "NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab ending remote work policy for nearly 5,500 employees." Space.com, May 22, 2025. https://www.space.com/space-exploration/nasas-jet-propulsion-lab-ending-telework-policy-for-over-1-000-employees

  8. Marcia Dunn. "JPL layoff legacy." LAist. https://laist.com/brief/news/education/jet-propulsion-laboratory-jpl-k12-education-team-layoffs

  9. Berger, Brian. "A Second Round of Layoffs at JPL." SpacePolicyOnline.com, November 12, 2024. https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/a-second-round-of-layoffs-at-jpl/

  10. Padilla, Alex and Laphonza Butler. "Padilla, Butler Statement on Mars Sample Return Mission Budget Cuts." Senator Alex Padilla, April 15, 2024. https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/padilla-butler-statement-on-mars-sample-return-mission-budget-cuts/

  11. Clark, Stephen. "Proposed 24 percent cut to NASA budget eliminates key Artemis architecture, climate research." Spaceflight Now, May 3, 2025. https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/05/03/proposed-24-percent-cut-to-nasa-budget-eliminates-key-artemis-architecture-climate-research/

  12. Witze, Alexandra. "Amid budget crunch, NASA seeks Hail Mary on Mars Sample Return." Science, April 16, 2024. https://www.science.org/content/article/amid-budget-crunch-nasa-seeks-hail-mary-mars-sample-return

  13. "Eaton Fire displaces 200 NASA JPL employees." ABC7 Los Angeles, January 24, 2025. https://abc7.com/post/eaton-fire-leaves-thousands-displaced-including-200-employees-nasa-jet-propulsion-laboratory/15831866/

  14. Ramirez, Itzel. "Eaton Fire leaves JPL employees reeling, searching for new beginnings." Spectrum News 1, April 17, 2025. https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/southern-california/wildfires/2025/04/17/eaton-fire-leaves-jpl-employees-reeling--searching-for-new-beginnings

  15. Dreier, Casey. "NASA's FY 2024 Budget." The Planetary Society, March 12, 2024. https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/nasas-fy-2024-budget

  16. Timmer, John. "Congressional budget gridlock leads to stunning NASA layoffs." The Washington Post, February 7, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/02/07/nasa-layoffs-mars-sample-return/

  17. Williams, Richard. "NASA JPL director quits for 'personal reasons.'" The Register, May 9, 2025. https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/08/nasa_jpl_director_quits/

  18. Cowing, Keith. "Perfect Timing For Pre-emptive Union Busting At JPL." NASA Watch, September 25, 2025. https://nasawatch.com/personnel-news/perfect-timing-for-pre-emptive-union-busting-at-jpl/

 

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