[tullianus]

Only partly thanks to overall budget inaction in Congress. The bigger cause in my opinion is Congress proposing huge reductions in Mars Sample Return program funding or outright cancellation [1], which is currently supporting a lot of people at JPL. This coincides with a scathing review of the program [2]. I think the vitriol is justified, especially after the two-decade-long shitshow that was JWST.

[1] https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/07/the-senate-just-lobbed... [2] https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mars-sample-...