Updated 9:20 a.m. Eastern with LPI statement.
WASHINGTON — A space station research conference has been canceled and the future of a long-running planetary science conference is in doubt as NASA pulls back support for those events.
The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the organization that operates the International Space Station National Lab, announced June 4 that it was cancelling the upcoming ISS Research and Development Conference that was scheduled for the end of July in Seattle.
“The International Space Station National Laboratory, in close consultation with NASA, has determined that the current regulatory and budgetary environment does not support holding the International Space Station Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC) in 2025,” the organization stated.
It didn’t elaborate on the decision, but industry sources said in recent days that NASA had decided to withdraw its support for the conference. The event, which had been run annually for more than a decade, was used by both NASA and CASIS to highlight research opportunities on the station and provide updates on station activities and future plans, such as the transition to commercial stations.
CASIS suggested that ISSRDC may not continue as a standalone conference after this year’s cancellation. It noted that it has been in discussions with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to incorporate the content from ISSRDC into AIAA’s ASCEND space conference. AIAA announced May 29 it was working with several other organizations on a revamped version of ASCEND that will be held in Washington in May 2026.
The announcement comes as NASA proposes scaling back its use of the ISS, citing budget pressures that predate the agency’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal. Dana Weigel, NASA ISS program manager, said at a May 20 briefing that NASA was considering reducing the crew on the U.S. segment from four astronauts to three because of “a cumulative multi-year budget reduction” that created resource challenges to the agency.
At the time, she said those concerns were not linked to proposed cuts to ISS operations in the high-level “skinny” budget proposal released in early May for fiscal year 2026. “When we see the full president’s budget request, we’ll take a look at those details to really understand what changes or adjustments will need to be made,” she said then.
The more detailed 2026 budget proposal, released May 30, proposed reducing the budget for ISS operations by a quarter, from $1.24 billion to $920 million. “The budget significantly reduces research and other activities on board the ISS,” the document stated. “ISS is replanning with a focus on maintaining minimal safe operations and very limited research essential to support Moon and Mars exploration until its retirement in 2030.”
The budget also reduces funding for crew and cargo transportation services needed to support the ISS, with an emphasis on funding a separate U.S. Deorbit Vehicle needed to safely reenter the ISS at the end of its life. “ISS is evaluating reducing U.S. crew and crew/cargo vehicle cadence,” the document stated.
The document added that the proposed budget “will limit future vehicle changes and could impact NASA’s ability to maintain two crew transportation providers.” That could imperil the future of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which has yet to enter service after suffering problems during a crewed test flight launched a year ago.
LPSC’s uncertain future
A separate NASA announcement June 4 also put into question the future of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), an annual conference on planetary science research. The conference, which dates back to a 1970 event to discuss science from the Apollo 11 mission, has long been a joint effort between NASA and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI).
NASA had been working for some time to revise that arrangement for LPSC. It issued a request for information (RFI) in November 2024 seeking input on an alternative partnership for a “Conference on Lunar, Planetary and Space Sciences” that would require the partnering organization to shoulder the cost of the conference, rather than sharing it with NASA.
“In this arrangement, NASA pays for its own contributions to the partnership, while the partner covers the other conference costs, including providing the venue,” NASA stated in the RFI. It added in a later document that “NASA will not be providing any financial support to the partner.”
NASA had been expected to release in early 2025 a formal solicitation, known as an Announcement for Partnership Proposals, that would lead to a partnership for a future version of LPSC. However, in the June 4 announcement, NASA said it would not release that solicitation and appeared to be dropping plans to be involved in LPSC at all in the future.
“The Planetary Science Division is studying options for future support of community-led and community-driven topical workshops, symposiums, and conferences,” NASA stated. It did not otherwise elaborate on its decision not to pursue a partnership.
The news has alarmed many planetary scientists, who consider LPSC as one of the major events in the field. The conference has attracted more than 2,000 people in recent years, making it one of the largest standalone planetary science conferences. Their concern is how to make up the NASA funding that had traditionally supported LPSC.
“I don’t think it’s the worst thing insofar as having more independence from NASA will enable the community to be more self-directed,” said Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, on social media. “The problem is that NASA paid for much of LPSC, so how that shortfall is made up is the biggest issue to overcome for any future community-led meeting.”
LPI, in a June 5 statement, said it would run LPSC next year on its own. The institute said it would provide more details about its plans for the conference later this year, and the statement said nothing about the future of the conference after 2026.
