NASA has paused work by key planetary and astrophysics science committees due to recent executive orders from President Donald Trump. The space agency directed the leaders of at least 10 groups, covering topics such as moon exploration, solar system planets, and “ocean worlds,” to pause all meetings and activities.
The memos cited six Trump executive actions, including three aimed at ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the federal government, two targeting “gender ideology extremism,” and one referring to rolling back climate change-related executive orders by the Biden administration.
As a result, several planetary science meetings have been cancelled. For example, the Mercury Exploration Assessment Group’s first in-person meeting was cancelled due to the pause order, forcing committee members who had already begun travel for the event to make alternative arrangements.
NASA’s assessment and analysis groups provide key insight into space science by assessing latest discoveries and missions in their specific fields and reporting back to the agency. However, these groups are not formal advisory committees overseen by the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
The pause order is part of several agency changes following executive orders from the Trump administration, which have also restricted funding for diversity-related programs and removed a 2023 article about NASA’s astronaut class from its history office.
Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/nasa-pauses-work-by-key-space-science-groups-amid-trump-executive-orders