NASA ditches chief scientists role, closes key offices amid Trump layoffs; How will this move impact space agency?
ByShweta Kukreti
Mar 13, 2025 05:28 PM IST
NASA's acting administrator signed a memo that was sent to the employees, encouraging employees to “embrace the challenge” when the cuts go into effect.
NASA revealed on Monday that it dissolved two additional departments, including the one which dealt with diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), and abolished the position of its head scientist and other key roles as part of President Donald Trump's federal “efficiency” campaign.
NASA has fired 23 employees, including Katherine Calvin, a climate science specialist and NASA top scientist, as per Reuters.(AFP)
NASA has fired 23 employees, including Katherine Calvin, a climate science specialist and NASA top scientist, as per Reuters.(AFP)
NASA's acting administrator Janet Petro signed a memo that was sent to the employees, stating that the office of technology, policy, and strategy, which advises the space agency on critical leadership choices, was also shut down.
Katherine Calvin, a climate science specialist and NASA top scientist, is one of 23 employees fired by the US space agency, as per Reuters.
NASA urges employees to embrace changes
Petro, who called the DEI initiatives contentious, costly, and embarrassing in a January memo, described the cuts as “a thoughtful approach that aligns with both administration priorities and our mission needs.”
The acting administrator further encouraged employees to “embrace the challenge” when the cuts go into effect as Jared Isaacman, Trump's choice for NASA administrator, is expected to succeed him.
She claimed the moves were made in preparation for an upcoming and more significant agency “reduction in [work]force and reorganization plan.”
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Here's how NASA's elimination of departments will impact the agency
The NASA move has not impacted space program's operational components. Some experts fear that this could only be the initial wave of budget cuts that will eventually begin to impact the missions as well.
According to the US news website Ars Technica, NASA's science mission directorate, which is in charge of planning and managing the space research program, may experience budget cuts of up to 50%.
This would be “nothing short of an extinction event for space science and exploration in the US,” according to the Planetary Society, an influential non-profit organization that advocates for space exploration.
NASA appears to have gotten lucky as compared to certain other government agencies that have seen severe budget cuts. While just a handful of ODEO (office of diversity and equal opportunity) jobs have been eliminated, its page on NASA's website has been removed.
Taking to X, Grant Tremblay, an astrophysicist at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, acknowledged that NASA needed some reforms, but he termed the move to completely eliminate departments as drastic.
“Nasa is small, but it is arguably the most legendary and globally beloved agency in American history. Its gutting has begun and the cuts to come are so massive that we won’t recognize it in a year,” Tremblay wrote.
“Many of these cuts are likely to be essentially irreversible. It’s hard to build something great from a pile of ash and rubble. The people you lose will not come back. When you lose a lead, you never recover it. Memory lost is lost for good.”
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