Schedule
Five days of sessions, panels, and hands-on workshops at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, June 22–26, 2026.
Download full agenda (PDF)Speakers marked (pending) or (TBD) are being confirmed. Final program subject to change.
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Monday, June 22, 2026
Space Weather Enabling Exploration
Session 1.1 · The Current Landscape: Agency Updates & Major Milestones
Chair: Gina DiBraccio
This opening session sets the stage with programmatic, high-level updates on current architectures, recent mission outcomes, and strategic goals. It provides a comprehensive update on the Moon to Mars architecture and the Artemis program, highlighting recent successes (such as Artemis II science outcomes) and outlining the roadmap ahead.
Stephanie Getty, Acting Director, Sciences and Exploration Directorate, NASA/GSFC
Session 1.2 · Defining the Gaps: Operational & Agency Needs for Deep Space
Chair: Jamie Favors
As human exploration, along with technological infrastructure, extends beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), operational requirements for space weather forecasting and radiation mitigation become more stringent. This session focuses on identifying current gaps in predictive capabilities, instrumentation, and real-time support.
Panel Participants: Gina DiBraccio, Brad Bailey, Debra Needham, Sabrina Savage
Session 1.3 · Cross-Agency Perspectives & Future Collaborative Solutions
Chair: Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla, Francesca Di Mare
Perspectives from different NASA directorates and agencies (NASA, NOAA, ESA, JAXA) on unifying efforts for sustained lunar and Martian exploration — building a resilient and interoperable space weather network. Topics include aligning global space weather operations with M2M requirements and integrating international/commercial partnerships into NASA’s exploration architecture.
Session 1.4 · Exploration Enabling Science — Bridging the Gap
Chair: Xia Cai
With the successful integration of science objectives within Artemis II mission operations through a console position within mission control, the connection between science and exploration is stronger than ever. This session explores the two-way street, highlighting how operational experiences inform future research and discussing the new scientific opportunities that will emerge from upcoming exploration activities.
Panel Participants: Kelsey Young, Barbara Cohen, Noah Petro, Alex Glocer
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Safeguarding Lunar Infrastructure: Science, Observations and Predictive Capabilities
Session 2.1 · Lunar Infrastructure, Science, and Exploration Activities
Chairs: Michelangelo Romano, Antonio Niemela Celeda
As NASA and its partners transition from brief lunar visits to establishing a sustained habitat, understanding the interaction between space weather, the lunar environment, and the infrastructure supporting exploration is critical. The session reviews known and unknown science as well as the impacts of space radiation and plasma on spacecraft hardware, spacesuits, and surface infrastructure — focusing on the operational realities, scientific objectives, and environmental vulnerabilities of sustained human and robotic presence on the lunar surface and in cislunar space.
Session 2.2 · Observations and Modeling Capabilities for Lunar Exploration
Chairs: Li-Jen Chen, Elizabeth Juelfs
Operators will require robust, real-time observational data and highly accurate predictive models to safely execute exploration activities. This session covers the current state and future needs of (cis)lunar space weather monitoring — new observational assets, leveraging existing missions for lunar exploration, and the latest modeling efforts to advance operational forecasting tools. Topics include addressing “blind spots” in coverage and the Research-to-Operations-to-Research (R2O2R) pipeline.
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Mars Exploration: Infrastructure, Science, Observations, Modeling
Session 3.1 · System of Systems — Challenges from Observations to Operations
Chairs: Gina DiBraccio, Mark Lupisella
As NASA continues to support interplanetary exploration to Mars and advances plans for a human mission to the Red Planet, it is essential to understand the Mars environment and its interactions with solar and heliospheric activity. This session reviews the Mars environment from space to ground — known and unknown science and hazards including radiation, variable atmospheric conditions, dust storms, and radar blackouts.
Session 3.2 · Weather & Space Weather Science
Chairs: Geronimo Villanueva, Alyson Bergamini
Frontiers in Mars climate modeling, weather observations, and the impact of dust and radar blackouts on crewed missions. Includes perspectives on existing observations supporting future exploration and parallels with Earth.
Panel Participants: Barbara Cohen, Scott Guzewich, Sara Faggi, Alain Khayat, Kathy Mandt
Thursday, June 25, 2026
Space Weather Impacts on NASA Missions: Operational Constraints, Tools, and Hazard Mitigation
A parallel Day with a Space Weather Analyst track runs all day Thursday (registration required).
Session 4.1 · Overview of SWx Impacts and Mitigation Strategies for NASA Missions
Chair: Joe Minow
An overview of how space weather affects NASA missions and infrastructure, highlighting real-world impacts from radiation, geomagnetic activity, and spacecraft charging, along with lessons learned from commercial activities.
Session 4.2 · SWx Constraints for NASA Special Operations
Chair: Mike Campola
How space weather constrains critical NASA operations such as launches, EVAs, and spacecraft maneuvers — with lessons from missions like ESCAPADE, IMAP, and the James Webb Space Telescope. Focuses on decision-making under risk, mission-specific support needs, and how operational experience informs go/no-go criteria and planning.
Panelists: Shannon Curry, Katherine Garcia-Sage, Carl Hansen, Justin Likar, Joe Minow, Nikolaos Paschalidis, Yihua Zheng
Session 4.3 · Data, Models, Tools, and Resources for Mission Support and Anomaly Characterization
Chair: Yihua Zheng
Current data, models, and tools used to support mission operations and characterize space-weather-related anomalies originating from environmental effects like radiation, atmospheric drag, and signal disturbances.
Session 4.4 · SWx Impact on Debris, Meteoroids, and Dust
Chair: Mattie Anastopulos
How space weather influences debris, meteoroids, and dust risks to spacecraft and mission support — including collision avoidance activities, anomaly resolution for the International Space Station, and dust mitigation efforts for Artemis as well as other exploration activities.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Future of Space Weather Prediction Capabilities
Ongoing initiatives to advance space weather knowledge and predictive capabilities in support of NASA space exploration. These activities identify successes, challenges, and opportunities for the next generation of capabilities — in the context of development, testing, and validation through the research-to-operations-to-research (R2O2R) framework. Topics include AI/ML advances, next-generation models, community infrastructure, and the roadmap for operational space weather forecasting.
Session 5.1 · Model Development For the Future of Space Weather
Chair: Bob Loper
Panel Participants: Lulu Zhao, Keith Groves, Thomas Berger, Matt Dosberg
Session 5.2 · Next Generation of Missions and Capabilities For Space Weather
Chair: Melissa Kane
Panel Participants: Yaireska Collado-Vega, Brian Thomas, Craig DeForest, Chuck Higgins
A Day with a Space Weather Analyst
A hands-on parallel session running all day on June 25.
Chairs: Mary Aronne, Carina Alden
M2M SWAO’s space weather analysts will offer a special 1-day session. This “Day with a Space Weather Analyst” will include hands-on space weather scenarios where participants can interface with the real-time space weather analysis processes and tools used by M2M SWAO to assess and predict space weather throughout the solar system.
A basic background on space weather is suggested but not required. Limited seats are available for this session — please indicate your intent to participate in the registration form.
Provide a basic understanding of performing an analysis of space weather across the solar system to support NASA mission exploration. This will be an opportunity to interface with the real-time space weather analysis that M2M SWAO conducts 7 days a week. The exercise highlights two space weather scenarios with hands-on activities.