“Dear ASGSR (American Society for Gravitational and Space Research) Members and Friends, As you may have heard, the President’s Budget Request (PBR) was recently released and includes severe cuts to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. More specifically, NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division (BPS), which funds a lot of our research, faces a draconian 72% reduction in funds from $87.5M to just $25M. This budget includes only $13M for Physical Sciences research, $4M for Space Biology, and $4M for the CERISS initiative.” More

Keith’s note: NASA Headquarters has decided to postpone this event. This notice was sent out this morning. “The NASA Science Community Meeting scheduled for Thursday, June 12 has been postponed, allowing time for all NASA Mission Directorates to brief internal staff and hold discussions on the FY26 President’s Budget Request. NASA has posted information and updates related to the FY26 President’s Budget Request here. NASA is in the process of having leaders at Centers and Mission Directorates brief their employees internally on the proposed budget. SMD has already engaged with the headquarters staff and staff located at field centers, and will continue to engage with more field centers in support of the science mission.” (More below)

11 June UDPATE: NASA Headquarters has decided to delay this event. This notice was sent out this morning.

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) will hold a virtual community meeting with Associate Administrator Nicky Fox and her leadership team at 12:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, June 12th. Members of SMD, the science community, academia, the media, and the public are invited to participate by joining using the WebEx link below. (More details below)

Keith’s note: NASA SMD just issued this solicitation notice: in response to Request for Information: Conference on Lunar, Planetary and Space Sciences issued in November 2024: Decision Made Not to Solicit Partnership Proposals – one Q&A response says “NASA will not be providing any financial support to the partner. Under the partnership approach, NASA partners on a collaborative basis with an entity that hosts its own conference. Under this arrangement, NASA pays for its own contributions to the partnership, while the partner covers the other conference costs, including providing the venue. NASA HQ also intends to participate in this conference as a venue for the dissemination and exchange of information and ideas among the lunar and planetary science communities.” Full notice and LPI update below.

Keith’s note: On 25 May @ScienceMagazine tweeted a link to an article in Science Robotics magazine about a NASA Europa mission concept. So did @SciRobotics. The tweets referred to an article in the 21 May edition of Science Robotics: “Autonomous surface sampling for the Europa Lander mission concept“ written by 21 authors – all of whom work for NASA JPL, or related institutions. Cool stuff – yes? They have been testing it in Alaska. But the article is behind a paywall. I was able to find pieces of the article elsewhere – including a video – but without a subscription to Science Robotics I have to pay extra to read this article – an article written by NASA-funded people about a NASA-funded mission concept. I searched for “Europa lander” at NASA .gov and was sent to https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-lander/ which is a dead link and this page from 2017. NASA is supposed to be making these materials available to all taxpayers. But they don’t. Then the NASA folks moan and groan about missions being cut – and see that polls reflect public apathy toward NASA – when they simply do not have the initiative to highlight all of their cool stuff in the first place. NASA has easy access to immense social media, web, and TV audiences but PAO has no clue how to make the best use of this reach. Just sayin’. See: “Europa Astrobiology Lander Mission Concept: Autonomous Surface Sampling” at Astrobiology.com

Keith’s note: Here we go again. With all the things being cut at NASA, you’d think that the NASA Astrobiology team would at least try and stand up and show their relevance. Guess again.

• The top story on NASA.gov Wednesday night is: “Another First: NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System“ – Water Water Water 💧🫧💦🌧️ – it is one of the key things that Astrobiology looks for and thinks about. But there is no mention of this “First” discovery at @nasaastrobio or astrobiology.nasa.gov – and the scientific paper is behind a paywall. Update: here’s the paper on astro-ph https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08863 – NASA still points to the paywall version.
• On Wednesday morning NASA and ESA announced “Webb’s Titan Forecast: Partly Cloudy With Occasional Methane Showers“ – interesting JWST studies of the atmosphere of Titan – a prime target for Astrobiology exploration – especially the $3 billion+ Dragonfly mission. But astrobiology.nasa.gov or @nasaastrobio make no mention. The scientific paper cited in the press release is behind a paywall (again).
• Is Astrobiology As Boring As NASA Thinks It is? (earlier post) – Next to searching for the origin of the universe, searching for life elsewhere in the cosmos is one of the most profound things NASA does. If only NASA would act that way.

Keith’s note: I was just on Bloomberg Radio/YouTube talking about the recent (possible) biosignature news of exoplanet K2-18 b and Astrobiology, while back on Earth, NASA’s budget cuts loom and how soon-to-be NASA-administrator Jared Isaacman is going to have to figure this all out. [Audio]

Keith’s note: NASA has led space science and “Made America Great In Space” for more than half a century. Let’s not let that science leadership fade. Let’s expand it further. NASA has led the way by:

• touching the sun
• visiting every planet in our solar system
• sending humans to walk on another world
• doing the first offworld search for life
• moving an asteroid
• finding water on the Moon and Mars
• discovering oceans inside icy moons
• sailing across interstellar space
• peering back to the dawn of the universe
• developing a global brand that all nations aspire to

Keith’s note: Space Science Week 2025 – March 31-April 4, 2025 “is the joint meeting of the Space Studies Board of the U.S. National Academies discipline committees in collaboration with the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and Board on Physics and Astronomy.” The 1 April plenary webcast is open to anyone. According to the agenda Janet Petro is speaking at 9:20 am EDT.

Keith’s note: According to “Update to NASA Science Advisory Committees”: “On February 19, 2025, the President issued Executive Order 14217, Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy, which sets forth the Administration’s policy of reducing the size of the Federal government in order to minimize waste and abuse, reduce inflation and promote American freedom and innovation. This Executive Order directed the termination of several Federal advisory committees across the government and ordered the identification of additional unnecessary Federal advisory committees for termination.