ISS Research & Development Conference Cancellation

Keith’s note: Space analyst Laura Seward Forczyk just tweeted that the ISS Research & Development Conference has been cancelled. If this is true (and my sources tell me that it really is true) then NASA has decided to stop telling people why LEO research is important. The FY 2026 budget reduces research on ISS – but does not cancel it. OMB documents talk about commercial LEO space stations picking up on that work from ISS. So why not promote a generation of ISS research – the basis upon which the next LEO effort will be based? Clearly NASA has absolutely no idea what they are going to do after the budget cuts take effect and 1/3 of its work force has been RIFed. Oddly there’s the ‘Beat China’ meme in these budget documents and White House rhetoric. Fine. The best way to let China win in LEO is to diminish ISS as fast as possible and let China attract more customers in the interim years. This is baffling in the extreme. Embrace The Challenge y’all.