Thirty-five countries, senior officials from space agencies representing China, Japan, Canada and Europe, over 1,700 delegates and ten astronauts representing various countries or companies had descended upon New Delhi to participate in the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX) – 2025 on Wednesday. But something was amiss. There was no representation from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The reason: lack of funds to support the NASA scientists or astronauts to travel and attend GLEX — jointly organised by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and hosted by Indian Space Research Organisation (). Sources from the organising committee said, on the condition of anonymity, that atleast a dozen NASA members were expected to be in New but it did not materialise.
Soon after returned to power earlier this year, his administration announced a slew of measures including some draconian slashing of funds for the fiscal year 2026, either cancellation or stalling of ongoing space missions, like the sample return mission from Mars, all of which has put NASA’s immediate future in a dock.
India is hosting GLEX for the first time and has seen a record delegate registration and participating countries in the history of the international conference. NASA had participated in the previous GLEX editions held in Russia and the US.
An IAF member involved in the planning and participant affairs said that as the US space agency was undergoing a transition and that the absence of heads of chiefs of departments, NASA representation was missing in the New Delhi edition of the conference.
NASA is one of the leading space agencies of the world and has been involved in cutting-edge missions and planetary explorations for several decades.
