NASA JPL Faces Mission Delays and Staffing Challenges.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is facing a challenging phase due to delayed missions and staff retention issues. JPL has too many missions and not enough experienced engineers to pull them off, according to an independent review board. The delay in the Psyche mission led to the postponement of a major JPL mission called Veritas. JPL officials say they have made progress in resolving the workforce issues by luring back dozens of departed staffers. The agency's most complex mission, Mars Sample Return, is a multibillion-dollar collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency that aspires to haul Martian soil back to Earth sometime in the next decade for laboratory scrutiny.