Mars rover lab in Calif. to cut jobs, missions

Reuters ^ | Thu Oct 13, 2005 | Reuters

[Reeses]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The California space laboratory that guided NASA's Mars rover missions has begun laying off workers in anticipation of a budget shift away from planetary expeditions, a spokesman said on Thursday.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena expects to shed 5 percent to 8 percent of its work force of 5,400, or about 300 contractors and employees, spokesman Blaine Baggett said.

The JPL saw two missions canceled as a result of the budget realignment by NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin, who plans to spend more money on missions to study Earth from space, Baggett said.

"We do Earth missions as well, so down the line we may get some of that (money)," Baggett said.

Canceled were the Prometheus mission to explore the icy moons of Jupiter, and the 2009 launch of a Mars telecommunications orbiter.

The job losses were not related to President George W. Bush's goal of returning astronauts to the moon and setting up a moon base as a waystation for deeper space travel, Baggett said.

The last time the laboratory cut jobs was in 1999, he said.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has about two dozen missions. They include the twin Voyager missions launched in 1977 and heading out of the solar system; the Ulysses Solar Polar mission monitoring the Sun; the Cassini-Huygens mission orbiting Saturn; the Stardust spacecraft that flew through a comet's tail and returns to Earth in January; and the Mars rovers.

[Reeses]

It would be a fun hobby project to build an Earth Rover, in this case an inexpensive floating robot that travels the oceans by exploiting environmental energy sources, visiting distant lands, making measurement recordings, taking pictures, and then slowly making its way home years later. With inexpensive microprocessors, GPS, accelerometers, magnometers, temperature sensors, digital cameras, solar cells, kinetic powered flashlight generators, cell phone service near shore, this is all possible as a hobby now.

It could be a sail boat, however at small dimensions this may not be strong enough or easy enough for a microprocessor to control. Extracting violent kinetic energy from the waves might work. Jacque Cousteau invented a metal column Turbosail to act as a vertical wing which lends itself well to computer control. There are many options being that speed is not that important.

It opens up a whole new field of maritime record setting in an area hobbyists can participate in. If a tiny $200 robot were to pop up in a bay in China, take a picture of a battleship, then return home, it would make some political waves.

Any ideas or suggestions?

[operation clinton cleanup]

the 2009 launch of a Mars telecommunications orbiter.

Are there really any customers on Mars yet?

[drt1]

They will cut back on these very successful unmanned missions yet they still continue to lavish untold Billions on the failed Space Shuttle Program. Paging Burt Rutan!

[EGPWS]

the failed Space Shuttle Program.

I'll drink that half full part of your glass of water and you can have the rest. OK?

[Prime Choice]

JPL isn't even the hardest-hit NASA center with the reorganization of funding to support the coming lunar missions. Ames Research Center is going through a 30% reduction in force (RIF) and NASA HQ has a 40% RIF.

There's a lot of early retirements offered and taken and a lot of contract agencies are transitioning to DoD and Homeland Security. It's a tough time for a lot of good people, young and old alike.

[Prime Choice]

Ping to ya.

[EGPWS]

Are there really any customers on Mars yet?

Have you advanced your sales territory enough to find out?

[Prime Choice]

Space ping?

[drt1]

Ooops, sorry. I must have said something bad about the Shuttle that a Shuttle Bot heard. Face it, the program has never met any of the grandiose goals set for it, has been over budget for as long as I can remember and, most egregious, has actually held back the Space Program by siphoning off funds that could have been better employed elsewhere. To boot, flaws and mismanagement have cost lives.

Still want a drink?

[mmercier]

>> Any ideas or suggestions?

Small dirigibles in the upper atmosphere with solar panels and the same array of gadgets you mentioned.

You know if it occurs to you or me today it is already done and perfected technology yesterday.

[drt1]

There is a small Amex listed Company, Global Tel (Symbol GTE) that is developing a stratospheric vehicle that will provide Cell Communications and other Telecommunications services from the Solar powered platform. It is called 'Sans Wire'.

[doug from upland]

Are there really any customers on Mars yet?
======================================================

Nitwit Sheila Jackson Lee thinks there are.

[EGPWS]

Ooops, sorry. I must have said something bad about the Shuttle that a Shuttle Bot heard. Face it, the program has never met any of the grandiose goals set for it, has been over budget for as long as I can remember and, most egregious, has actually held back the Space Program by siphoning off funds that could have been better employed elsewhere. To boot, flaws and mismanagement have cost lives.

Perhaps the failing of the Russian duplicate of the shuttle was just a political ploy on their part.

Yea, all achieved by the shuttle and rovers sure have cost us however YOU would prefer the lack of knowledge and utility value achieved and drink from an empty glass.

You are not shown to be one who shows an appreciative mindset to convince one that what we have achieved with the shuttle has been a fruitless endeavor.

[mmercier]

As I said, if it occurs to you or me it is already done.

There will be a vast market for high altitude solar powered blimp type devices, especially when it is realized that they can replace cellular towers and ground based electronics at a fraction of the cost... Not to mention all that freed up hilltop real estate.

It was my idea first @1978.

[drt1]

Sounds like grounds for a Patent Infringement suit to me. Go for it!

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

to cut jobs, missions

I thought cutting emissions was a good thing?

[saganite]

The destruction of NASA's unmanned program continues apace to make way for the next great manned boondoggle.

[mmercier]

>> Sounds like grounds for a Patent Infringement suit to me. Go for it!

Didn't Arthur C. Clarke get the patent on the communications satellite 30 years after he wrote about it...?

You may be on to something here, all I need now is to locate my junior year {high school} essays...

Remote submarines and subterranean devices offer even more potential.

Man used to marvel at large structures like skyscrapers and ships, now we are in awe of a thing smaller than a deck of cards that can hold a thousand songs and call Taiwan while text messaging the squeeze in the next office.

True innovators and creators think smaller today, not larger.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Forget Space Station Alpha (Algores name), I want Moon Base Alpha!

[drt1]

"True innovators and creators think smaller today, not larger."

Agree although there are those here who apparently don't agree (See post 13 for example).

I have to think that a large part of what the Shuttle is designed to do can be accomplished robotically by a craft less than 100th it's size and probably of a lower level of complexity (No human support systems).

Freight and delivery functions could be performed by much lower cost, more reliable and technically less sophisticated craft a la Soyuz.Don't even want to get into the potential for battlefield robots that are super miniaturized.