NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is reducing its workforce by 5 percent, or 325 employees, amid budget cuts and issues with its Mars Sample Return program.

JPL, which was founded in 1936 by California Institute of Technology researchers, already went through one round of mass layoffs earlier this year in an effort to reduce costs. In February, JPL cut 530 jobs, which was about 8% of its then-workforce, and laid off 40 contractors.

Barely nine months after the last cut, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will again reduce its workforce. On Wednesday, the lab will lay 325 employees off, representing about 5 percent of the workforce at the California-based laboratory that leads development of robotic space probes for NASA.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA's chief center for planetary exploration, is conducting its second round of layoffs in 2024, reducing its workforce by another 5%.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is laying off about 325 employees, or 5% of its workforce, as the California-based research and development center deals with funding challenges for the upcoming year.