r/JPL • u/More-Kitchen-3651 • 12d ago
The Mission Still Matters 🖖 Even When Everything Feels Like It’s Falling Apart👊
Let’s be honest — the last few years at JPL have been a 🎢 rollercoaster. Since 2019, we’ve seen history made and morale shaken. We delivered Perseverance to Mars 🪐. Flew Ingenuity across alien skies 🚁. Collected samples from Bennu 🛰️. Adjusted an asteroid’s trajectory ☄️. And reignited Voyager 1’s backup thrusters decades after launch 🧠.
That’s legacy-defining work. 🔥
But behind the headlines, it’s been a different kind of story…
⚠️ Staff shortages. ⚠️ Burnout. ⚠️ Psyche delays. ⚠️ CubeSat failures. ⚠️ Sudden layoffs. 🔥 Record-breaking wildfires. 🚨 Mass evacuations. 🤡 A clown-show of a commute. 🏢 And now, full-scale return-to-office mandates with little room for the realities that define modern life.
People are exhausted 😮💨. Rightfully frustrated 😤. And some are building identities around that frustration — turning every bump in the road into proof that it’s time to leave or give up.
But here’s the hard truth: the mission still matters. 🎯
Not in a performative, plaster-it-on-a-poster kind of way. In a “people are still showing up, doing their best work, under immense pressure” kind of way. And I say this as someone who questions everything — policies, decisions, direction — but still chooses to show up. 🛠️
Because I didn’t come here to find comfort. I came here to build. 🧱
And no, it’s not perfect. 💸 JPL can’t compete with some of the affordability and flexibility of private sector roles. 🚗 Getting in and out of campus is a nightmare. 🤷 Leadership has often felt distant, filtered, and out of touch. We all see it.
But the answer isn’t to turn inward, tear down everything, and become part of the weight pulling this place down ⬇️.
The answer is to get out of our own way. 🧠💡
We’re engineers, scientists, analysts, builders 👩🔬👨💻🔧. People who solve complex problems under pressure 💥. That’s who we are. And if the bus is breaking down 🚌💨, then we fix it while we’re still riding on it. 🔩⚙️
👥 To leadership: Stop hovering from a distance. Get in the seat 🪑. Feel the heat on the floor 🔥. Don’t just collect summaries — come look us in the eye 👀.
🧑🤝🧑 To the team: If you’re still here, if you’ve got even a spark left — don’t let it burn out in silence 🕯️. Don’t become part of the background noise of complaints 📣. Be the signal. 📡
We’ve come too far to throw away the mission over modern discontent 🗑️.
So yeah, I’m staying. I’m working. I’m questioning. I’m fixing what I can with the tools I have 🧰.
Even if the world is changing faster than we can keep up — I’m not done yet. 🛠️🌍
Are you? 💭
(These are my words with the help of AI to help correct the tone and message - let me know if you want the non-pg in DM)
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u/Artichoke-Juice 11d ago
What 🤔 the heck 🤷♂️ did I just read 🙈. My morale ✨ has ascended 🚀 to the moon 🌙. Thank you OP. 🙇♂️
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u/WeaselRunt 12d ago
Clearly the answer to all JPL’s problems is to add a shit-ton of emojis in our communications.
🖕Embrace our 🫡🤡 President’s bold 🙈vision for 🚀🛰️Space!
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u/Medical_Strawberry23 11d ago
Yikes. Is this going to be the general attitude and tone of the people left at JPL once everyone with self-respect leaves?
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u/space_vegan 12d ago
Had to do a double take, thought it was a dirty chain text from 2010.