ASCEND 2026

ASCEND 2026 delivers fresh ideas, new partnerships, and growing momentum, while remaining the trusted home and voice of the global space community. As an acronym for “Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery,” ASCEND is built to convene space professionals and organizations from every discipline and industry to collaborate across sectors, align strategies, and accelerate progress across the full space value chain. Grounded in technical excellence and powered by AIAA, it is strengthened by partners including the Commercial Space Federation, ISS National Laboratory, and Space Force Association. The conference covers a broad range of topics spanning space science and exploration, technology development and utilization, space economy, national security, and policy and law. Key themes include shaping space policy and law, finance and innovation, advancing human spaceflight and microgravity research, enabling sustainable cislunar and lunar exploration, defining the Moon-to-Mars pathway, strengthening national security, new horizons in space infrastructure, cross-cutting technologies, and developing the next generation of space leaders.