WASHINGTON (States News Service) -- NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which conducts some of NASA's key space exploration programs, is bracing for the possibility that as many as seven of the center's programs will be scrapped if Congress follows through with a nearly billion-dollar cut to NASA's budget.

According to Frank O'Donnell, a spokesman for the JPL in Pasadena, California, a cut of that size "would have a very dire effect on NASA and JPL."

JPL, which coordinates missions to Mars, Jupiter and the Sun, is the leading U.S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system. One of NASA's highly prized centers, JPL relies heavily on the agency's funding. JPL is an unusual arm of NASA's space science centers because, although the center's property is federally owned, much of the lab's workforce is employed by the California Institute for Technology, which manages the center.

On July 26, the House VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee voted to cut $1.3 billion out of a $13.6 billion request to NASA, mostly targeted at the Earth and Space Science projects. Last Friday, the full committee restored $400 million, possibly saving some of NASA's high priority missions. The Senate will not draft its own NASA funding bill until September.

Last Friday's partial restoration was "designed to save a number of JPL projects," O'Donnell said. Projects related to the lab's Mars program, the Europa spacecraft's visit to Jupiter's moon, and SIRTF (an infrared telescope) all had at least some funding restored by the full Appropriations committee. But even with the partial restoration, the remaining budget would pull the plug on seven other JPL projects worth a total of $105 million, O'Donnell said.

The cut programs would include the Pluto Express and solar probe missions, a project analyzing comets called "Deep Impact," and Earth Science programs that study clouds and conduct radar imaging.

Moreover, O'Donnell said, NASA may react to a budget slashing by restructuring funding for its programs. "If NASA has to sustain a substantial cut, the agency will look at a lot of different options for adjusting to the cut," O'Donnell said. "JPL may not be safe from other [restructuring] effects."

The impact of deep budget cuts to JPL might also threaten the job security of its elite research and development staff, and thus the local economy. "JPL effects the entire area," said Lynne Hess, President and CEO of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. "You can't help but have a huge impact, especially with the payrolls that [JPL employees] have."

With 6,500 employees, JPL is Pasadena's largest supplier of jobs, Hess said. The area's second is lab manager California Tech, which employs an additional 4,000 people outside of the JPL workforce.

Congress has yet to finalize the cuts, so it is too early to tell for sure how hard NASA's programs will be hit, said Dr. Louis Friedman, Executive Director of the Planetary Society, a non-profit organization that supports space exploration.

"There is a lot of negotiation remaining to be done yet," Friedman said. "Within the space program, I don't think anyone is against this restoration. [But] this congressional action is not over yet, and how this will all play out is still to be determined."