NASA fires its chief scientist Katherine Calvin, signalling shift from research to exploration

Trump had declared in his State of the Union address last week that the US would “plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond.”

NASA's chief scientist Katherine Calvin is among the 23 people laid off from the US space agency as part of President Donald Trump's administrative actions.

NASA's chief scientist Katherine Calvin is also a renowned climatologist who has contributed to key UN climate reports. (NASA)

More job cuts are expected to happen, news agency AFP reported, citing a NASA spokesperson.

The NASA layoffs may signal a shift away from research and toward exploration since both Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk support a human mission to Mars, with Trump declaring in his State of the Union address last week that the US would “plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond".

Calvin is also a renowned climatologist who has contributed to key UN climate reports.

However, she as well as other US delegates were barred from attending a major climate science meeting in China last month, as part of the Trump administration's actions to undermining climate change research, according to the report.

This is because NASA plays a crucial role in climate research, since it operates a fleet of Earth-monitoring satellites, conducts airborne and ground-based studies, develops sophisticated climate models, and provides open-source data to researchers and the public.

Trump, meanwhile, had called climate change a "scam," expressing disdain for the UN and climate science. He also has pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement for a second time.

Apart from the layoffs, NASA's Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Branch of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion got eliminated altogether.

“A small number of individuals received notification March 10 they are a part of NASA's RIF,” the report quoted NASA spokeswoman Cheryl Warner as saying. "If they're eligible, those employees may opt to participate in the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, or VERA, or complete the RIF process."

The NASA job cuts were so far, avoided due to last minute intervention by Jared Isaacman, Trump's nominee for NASA chief who is also an e-payments billionaire and SpaceX customer.

He is also seen as being close to Elon Musk who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which is responsible for federal cost-cutting.

The cuts were actually supposed to happen in February, including those for a thousand probationary employees, but Isaacman had asked for it to be put on hold, according to the report.