JPL Jobs in Jeopardy?

Sending astronauts to Mars and the robotic exploration program were  touted as setting the stage for eventual  human missions by President Obama only two years ago.

But on Monday, Pres. Obama will submit his 2013 federal budget and NASA officials plan to unveil drastic cuts in their own budget. Those cuts may force the space agency to withdraw from planetary exploration and other projects which have popular support.

“There is going to be a big international uproar on this topic,” said John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University. “The planetary community in the U.S. is going to be very unhappy about the fact that there is no money for major new planetary missions.”

Will the budget President Obama submits affect the workforce at Pasadena’s  JPL? Rep. Adam Schiff has met with NASA officials and expressed his position.

“Today I met with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to express my dismay over widespread reports that NASA’s latest budget proposes to dramatically reduce the planetary science program, and with it, ground breaking missions to Mars and outer planetary bodies like Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, and I wanted to inform him of my vehement opposition to such a move,” said Schiff.

Some experts believe that Obama’s budget request will allocate only $1.2 billion to the program, compared to the $1.5 billion that planetary exploration will receive this year. That’s a 20 percent cut and would make it tougher for NASA implement exploration projects, including the robotic exploration of Mars.

The robotic exploration of Mars is considered as one of the crown jewels of NASA. Rep. Schiff agreed.

“America’s unique expertise in designing and flying deep-space missions is a priceless national asset and the Mars program is one of our nation’s scientific crown jewels,” said Schiff. “It has been a spectacular success that has pushed the boundaries of human understanding and technological innovation, while also boosting American prestige worldwide and driving our children to pursue science and engineering degrees in college.”

Currently, ExoMars is scheduled to be launched toward Mars in 2016 and the actual exploration two years later. But NASA will likely have to pull out of the program now.

“Frankly, I think there’s no doubt about that,” Logsdon said.