Bad News for NASA’s JPL and the Mars Sample Return

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NASA has started to crack under budget uncertainty.

The Washington Post has reported that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is laying off 530 employees and another 40 contractors. Overall, this is an eight percent drop in JPL staffing, most of it related to the Mars Sample Return (MSR) efforts that have been facing cost overruns and questions from Congress.

JPL management explained the reduction in a memo to employees:

I am writing to share as much detail and clarity on our actions as I can, including reviewing the factors that have led to this decision, and our next steps. First, how we got here. Without an approved federal budget including final allocation for MSR FY24 funding levels, NASA previously directed JPL to plan for an MSR budget of $300M. This is consistent with the low end of congressional markups of NASA’s budget and a 63% decrease over the FY23 level. In response to this direction, and in an effort to protect our workforce, we implemented a hiring freeze, reduced MSR contracts, and implemented cuts to burden budgets across the Lab. Earlier this month, we further reduced spending by releasing some of our valued on-site contractors.

This may be a short layoff should NASA get more funding from Congress, but even then it is possible that some of the great talent associated with the program will head off into the sunset to find more secure employment.

Will we ever get a sample back from Mars? Can we get the information we need via other means for now until the budget situation improves (as well as more partner funding)? Will the Chinese or another party find the means to do something we cannot?

NASA has a lot of balls in the air and may lack the necessary funding to keep them all afloat, as was highlighted in an earlier post.

It appears one of the balls has dropped.

Pic of the Week: The End of Ingenuity

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Image (Credit): Shadow of the Ingenuity helicopter’s rotor blade on the surface of Mars. (NASA, JPL-Caltech)

This week’s image shows the shadow of little helicopter that could and continued to do so for 72 flights on Mars. The photo taken by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter shows one of its rotor blades after it finished its last flight on January 18, 2024. During the landing, one of the blades was damaged, permanently grounded the helicopter forever more.

The amazing little helicopter surpassed all expectations and became a very helpful buddy to the Perseverance rover. It may be the end of Ingenuity, but it should also be seen as the start of more missions that pair rovers and helicopters on Mars.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has some final words regarding this unique helicopter in a video that you can watch here.

In addition, Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity’s project manager at NASA JPL, had this to say:

It’s humbling Ingenuity not only carries onboard a swatch from the original Wright Flyer, but also this helicopter followed in its footsteps and proved flight is possible on another world.

Space Stories: Finding Water on Mars, Mini Solar Sails, and a Balloon-borne Telescope

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Image (Credit): Image of Mars. (NASA)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Planetary Science Institute: “Vast, Potential Ice-Rich Deposit Found in Martian Equatorial Region“

A potential ice-rich portion of the Medusae Fossae Formation deposits may contain the largest volume of water in the equatorial region of Mars. Data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) –  a subsurface radar sounder on the Mars Express orbiter searching for water and studying the Martian atmosphere – reveals layering in the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF) deposits. These layers are likely due to transitions between mixtures of ice-rich and ice-poor dust, analogous to those in Polar Layered Deposits, according to the paper “Evidence of Ice-Rich Layered Deposits in the Medusae Fossae Formation of Mars” in Geophysical Research Letters. 

—University of California: “Small Solar Sails Could be the Next ‘Giant Leap’ for Interplanetary Space Exploration“

Nearly 70 years after the launch of the first satellite, we still have more questions than answers about space. But a team of Berkeley researchers is on a mission to change this with a proposal to build a fleet of low-cost, autonomous spacecraft, each weighing only 10 grams and propelled by nothing more than the pressure of solar radiation. These miniaturized solar sails could potentially visit thousands of near-Earth asteroids and comets, capturing high-resolution images and collecting samples.

—NASA: “NASA’s GUSTO Prepares to Map Space Between the Stars“

On a vast ice sheet in Antarctica, scientists and engineers are preparing a NASA experiment called GUSTO to explore the universe on a balloon. GUSTO will launch from the Ross Ice Shelf, near the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station research base, no earlier than Dec. 21. GUSTO, which stands for Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory, will peer into the space between stars called the interstellar medium. The balloon-borne telescope will help scientists make a 3D map of a large part of the Milky Way in extremely high-frequency radio waves. Examining a 100-square-degree area, GUSTO will explore the many phases of the interstellar medium and the abundances of key chemical elements in the galaxy.

Tap Into an Upcoming Mars Discussion

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The Mars Society’s President and founder Dr. Robert Zubrin is in Europe this week to meet with fellow Mars enthusiasts. You can tap into one of those discussions tomorrow if you are interested.

On January 18, Dr. Zubrin will hold a discussion with UK Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees on the topic “How to Explore Mars.” You may remember Dr. Rees from some of his books, including Gravity’s Fatal Attraction: Black Holes in the Universe and The End of Astronauts.

You can go here to get your online spot at the London discussion. Just keep in mind the time difference.

Hopefully, a recorded version will be available shortly after the event.

NASA Had a Busy Year

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Image (Credit): The introduction of the Artemis II crew, just one of many items highlighted in NASA’s new video summarizing 2023. (NASA)

This is the time of year for lists, so I wanted to highlight one of the more important lists, at least in the opinion of this writer. That’s right, we need to remember the important space milestones from this year.

Fortunately, NASA recently summed up its successes in 2023 with a new video titled NASA 2023: Nothing is Beyond Our Reach. The video highlights many of the Agency’s accomplishments this year, including the launch of the Psyche mission, the announcement of a crew for the Artemis II mission, and the OSIRIS-REx capsule retrieval.

It is quite a list. Luckily, NASA provided a list of links so you can read more about the various efforts:

Time to read up on 2023 before we dive into more activities in 2024.

Note: You can read a more detailed list of accomplishments at this NASA site.