NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced it was laying off 530 on staff or about 8% of its workforce on Tuesday after expected congressional budget cuts kneecapped one of its biggest endeavors, the Mars Sample Return mission.
The Pasadena, California, institution is one of NASA’s major science mission hubs, the home to the majority of Mars missions, including the Perseverance rover currently collecting soil and rock samples as part of that mission.