The people say the sparseness of employees has begun at the Center for Astronomy and Geological Sciences in Flagstaff, Arizona, the result of various voluntary resignation offers made by the government’s Department of Efficiency led by billionaire Elon Musk. More employees are expected to be fired in the coming weeks in a new public appeal for early retirement and resignation on April 4. The office, part of the U.S. Geological Survey under the Interior Department, was subject to cost-cutting efforts initiated by Musk’s team in January in a massive email sent across federal governments.
Representatives from the Ministry of the Interior, USGS and Astrologology Center did not respond to a request for comment regarding staff reduction or its potential consequences.
The layoffs could affect crew missions in the future, which was Musk’s main goal, who founded SpaceX. He said he believes the company makes human life multi-layered.
Matthew Golombek, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who has made multiple probe landing sites for Mars, described the precise mapping of the Astrologology Science Center as “the gold standard for everyone who everyone in the community uses.”
At the beginning of the year, the office had 53 employees. Eight people are leaving and are more encouraged to consider the latest proposal. Golombek said its experts are relying on “almost all landing site choices because they map very well.” He added that cutting the center’s “a group of experienced and knowledgeable people” would lead to “a growing number of worse products.” Any consequences of narrowing down the office contact map maker team may be important: President Donald Trump’s nominee leads NASA Jared Isaacman, Jared Isaacman, told the Senate committee Wednesday that he will propose a “parallel” effort to send Astronauts to Moars’ Mars along with existing plans to send crew to the moon.
A researcher in Flagstaff’s office, known among many experts in the field as “Astro,” fearing that these shifting budget priorities have lost the lethality of key projects in mapping and planetary science, including identifying hidden water ice deposits on Mars, which is invaluable for human exploration.
“I can’t imagine taking 10 people randomly in the left in the 40s and no entire project has to be cancelled,” the researcher said.
Even the departure of five workers, only their qualifications or areas of expertise, would put the office in trouble, the researchers added.
Two employees who requested anonymous protection for their careers in the government were familiar with the latest call for volunteers’ “deferred resignation/retirement plans” at a recent employee meeting. The federal government is known in the federal government as effective mandatory layoffs, which can then be said if not enough employees voluntarily.
The field of astrogeology and geology is interdisciplinary, with experts in land, mineralogy, volcanology and geography serving space exploration. Although the USGS Astrologology Center is part of the Ministry of the Interior, it works very closely with NASA and is “almost entirely funded by NASA.” Over the past few decades, experts at the center have taken the lead in generating detailed topographic maps of Mars, the Moon and other worlds, as well as strategic plans and scientific goals for generations of NASA missions.
Its scientists also taught Lunar Geology’s crash course to Apollo astronauts, including Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, to better inform them about the collection of rock samples. NASA’s Artemis program has resumed training, which plans to return astronauts to the moon’s surface in 2027.
The office’s geological experts compete to help NASA find a new landing site for the first of its two historic Viking Mars Landers in 1976, after the original site was found too dangerous. In 2021, Perseverance Rovers use the center’s maps and software to automatically guide themselves to the surface of Mars.
“Perseverance was the first car and Rand actually created by USGS people on the board map.”
“They will create these dangerous maps, and as the rover falls, it will actually match the map on the boat in real time,” Edwards said. “You know, ‘Oh, hey! It’s a safe landing ground! It’s not a safe landing place!”
Companies that are part of the thriving commercial space industry also rely on the expertise of Astrologology Science Center.
“SpaceX sometimes asks questions, and the people at USGS are very excited.” Astrologogrogrogrogrogrogroggy Science Center, formerly a former archivist and public information manager at Astrologology Science Center, is now a semi-historical historian and science writer in Arizona. Portree reviews the offices that worked for the company several times.
A project described by current Astrologology staff involved helping SpaceX assess whether the company could land its Dragon Space Capsules on land within the mainland of the United States. (SpaceX finally chose to land water.)
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comments about Astrologology Center regarding past or current work, or how it will affect the company’s Mars plan.
Portee – who wrote the official history of NASA’s 50-year mission for Mars, said he fears effective reductions will mean that senior scientists will not be able to pass on their often professional expertise to young researchers who may one day advance their field. This extends to the Trump administration’s administration’s administration’s administration’s administration’s freeze of recruitment, which has affected the office’s student contractor program.
“Its ripple effect is far beyond Flagstaff, far beyond Astro,” he continued. “You turn off the faucet. You can prevent the next generation from creating.”
Edwards of Northern Arizona said he was concerned that the administration’s efforts to fire new employees, known as probation workers.
“All of these temporary or temporary types of positions, they’re not just for young people,” Edwards said. “That’s exactly what you’re transferring when you become a federal employee. They might actually be firing subject matter experts.”
He added: “This is crazy for me.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
