NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced Tuesday it is laying off about 550 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, as part of a reorganization that began in July and is not tied to the current U.S. government shutdown.

JPL Director Dave Gallagher said in a statement released Monday that the reductions are aimed at “restructuring and establishing an appropriate size to ensure future success.”

He noted the cuts span technical, business, and support divisions and that the steps are “essential to securing JPL’s future by creating a leaner infrastructure, focusing on our core technical capabilities, maintaining fiscal discipline, and positioning us to compete in the evolving space ecosystem.”

The laboratory, managed by the California Institute of Technology, is NASA’s only federally funded research and development center.

It has previously carried out large-scale mission work, including all five of NASA’s successful Mars rovers.

While JPL emphasized that the layoffs are not related to the government shutdown, the timing comes during a wave of federal workforce reductions across U.S. science, technology, and administrative agencies.

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