WASHINGTON NASA is implementing strict new limits on employee travel and explicitly banning agency-funded participation in several prominent conferences this spring as the agency absorbs a 5 percent budget cut imposed March 1 under sequestration.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden issued new guidance March 13 that states that "NASA funded participation will not be allowed" at either the National Space Symposium being held April 8-11 in Colorado Springs, Colo., or the American Astronautical Society's Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium being held March 19-21 in Greenbelt, Md., and the Goddard Memorial Dinner being held March 22 at the Washington Hilton here.SpaceNewsis a media sponsor of the National Space Symposium.

Restrictions are even tighter for travel outside the United States. Currently, no foreign conferences are approved for NASA participation. Meetings now off limits to NASA employees and their contractors include: the International Astronautical Federation's Spring Meeting in Paris, March 18-20; the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2013 in Vienna, April 7-12; the Sixth European Conference on Space Debris in Darmstadt, Germany, April 22-25; and the Rotary International Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, June 23-26.

For many NASA employees and contractors, the National Space Symposium is the year's must-attend space conference. NASA officials usually participate as exhibitors, speakers and attendees. [What NASA's 2013 Budget Pays For (Video)]

A NASA spokesman said agency employees and contractors may attend the National Space Symposium at their own expense but NASA will have no official presence at the conference. Bolden and his deputy, Lori Garver, were among NASA officials scheduled to speak at the annual meeting, which draws thousands of government and corporate space officials from around the world.

"[W]e won't have a booth there and NASA personnel aren't attending," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel wrote in a March 15 email.

"The show will go on," said Space Foundation spokeswoman Janet Stevens. "It will be awesome as usual. We will miss our NASA partners if they ultimately are not able to attend."

The Space Foundation still expects a large U.S. military presence, thanks to the symposium's proximity to Air Force Space Command, and the usual assortment of aerospace contractors, commercial companies and international space officials.

"It's a shame that at a U.S.-based space symposium our own space agency won't be represented when we have representation from all over the world," Stevens said.

NASA bought a large booth across from Boeing Co. at the front of the otherwise sold-out main exhibit hall. Stevens said booth fees are no longer refundable. She did not say how much NASA's booth cost. The smallest booths cost roughly $10,000.

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Sequester Takes Bite Out of NASA Employees' Travel