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NASA Jet Propulsion Lab Lays Off 300 Engineers

Posted by Zonk on from the people-are-superfluous dept.

Ghost of Von Karmen writes "NASA JPL, the lab that brought us missions such as Voyager, Cassini, and the Mars Exploration Rovers will eliminate about 300 engineering related positions due to Congressional budget cuts, according to various sources. The cuts reflect a change in emphasis away from robotic technology and toward human exploration of space. Prof. Elachi, head of JPL has indicated that the lab may pursue Department of Defense contracts to minimize additional reductions in personnel."

2 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Wish I had a violin... by dada21 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of my main CNC/machining suppliers does 20% of his business with NASA but they account for 95% of his profits.

    I recently saw some of his invoices and NASA is typical government waste. Take your $300 toilet seats and $600 screw drivers and double it.

    I really want the FOIA to open up every invoice for public consumption in PDF real time. NASA is no friend of the taxpayers.

    Is NASA really getting a budget cut or did they just overspend with the cronies again?

  2. Not a $600 screwdriver problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I currently work on a JPL project.

    We've been having budget problems for a while now. Two big causes are Hubble and the President's space exploration plan. We got a budget cut when they decided they wanted to investigate repairing Hubble. Then we got more cuts to divert money to the President's plan.

    Working here is nothing like working for industry. We do things as efficiently as we can because we have barely enough money to keep operating. We use free software tools when we can, we only buy computers when they go on sale, etc.

    Keep in mind the highly talented and educated engineers here are working for much less money than they would get in industry because they think it is worthwhile.