The Jet Propulsion Laboratory unit of NASA said Monday that it will lay off about 550 employees — 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 that was posted on the lab's website.
JPL is a research and development lab funded by NASA — the federal space agency — and managed by the California Institute of Technology.
"While not easy, I believe that taking these actions now will help the Lab transform at the scale and pace necessary to help achieve humanity's boldest ambitions in space," Gallagher wrote in a separate mekor to JPL employees and contractors.
Gallagher, in the public announcement, noted that the reorganization of JPL began in July, and "over the past few months, we have communicated openly with employees about the challenges and hard choices ahead."
