US President Donald Trump has been ambitious about his Mars mission. The president is keen on sending astronauts to the red planet; this is when two NASA astronauts are already looking to be back home from a lunar mission at the earliest after repeated delays. And now, what comes as a big blow to the space agency are the layoffs. NASA to eliminate the post of chief scientist along with two other departments. Katharine Calvin, chief scientist, was appointed by former President Joe Biden to bolster climate change initiatives.

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Also read: Here’s why NASA engineers are switching off instruments on Voyager space probes

"NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS), the Office of the Chief Scientist, and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility branch in the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, along with reducing their workforce," NASA administrator Janet Petro confirmed in a memo to the employees.

She added, "As I alluded to last week, we are all navigating a complex and ever-changing landscape together, and I want to share what that means for our team in the near term."

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OTPS was established in 2021, during the Biden administration. According to the agency's website, the department brings together diverse, multidisciplinary experts to provide NASA leadership with analytic, strategic, and decisional insights in the form of quickturn analyses, memos, and reports.

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Ever since Trump assumed office on January 20, the Department of Government Efficiency, spearheaded by Elon Musk, has been slashing jobs under the pretext of cost-cutting. A month ago, the White House issued an order to implement downsizing of teams. The move was initiated for 'reforming the federal workforce to maximise efficiency and productivity'.

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The notice from the President's office highlighted, "Within 240 days of the date of this order, the USDS Administrator shall submit a report to the President regarding implementation of this order."

The document also mentioned, "Within 30 days of the date of this order, agency heads shall submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget a report that identifies any statutes that establish the agency, or subcomponents of the agency, as statutorily required entities. The report shall discuss whether the agency or any of its subcomponents should be eliminated or consolidated."