nasa to establish nationwide lunar

NASA TO ESTABLISH NATIONWIDE LUNAR SCIENCE INSTITUTE

Oct. 30, 2007

Dwayne Brown

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1726

dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Michael Mewhinney

Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

650-604-3937

michael.mewhinney@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 07-233

NASA TO ESTABLISH NATIONWIDE LUNAR SCIENCE INSTITUTE

WASHINGTION -

NASA has announced its intent to establish a new lunar

science institute. This effort, with dispersed teams across the

nation, will help lead the agency's research activities for future

lunar science missions related to NASA's exploration goals.

Named the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI), the effort will be

managed from NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, Calif. Ames

currently manages a similar distributed NASA Astrobiology Institute.

NLSI's operations are expected to begin March 1, 2008. NLSI will

augment other, already established lunar science investigations

funded by NASA by encouraging the formation of interdisciplinary

research teams that are larger than those currently at work in lunar

science.

"I am excited about NLSI," said Alan Stern, associate administrator

for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters,

Washington. "As the National Academy of Sciences has told us, the

science to be done at the moon and from the moon are of high value,

and NLSI will help us coordinate and expand a number of in-depth

research efforts in lunar science and other fields that can benefit

from human and robotic missions that are part of NASA's exploration

plans."

NLSI research teams will address current topics in basic lunar

science, and perhaps astronomical, solar and Earth science

investigations that could be performed from the moon. They also will

offer a quick response capability for lunar science support to NASA's

Exploration initiative.

A national search for a NLSI director is currently underway. Most work

done under NLSI's banner will take place at other NASA centers,

universities and non-profit research groups around the nations. These

groups will be competitively selected after scientific peer review.

Initially, NASA will select four or five teams for grants of $1 to $2

million each for three years, with renewals of up to five years. NASA

will solicit team proposals in a 2008 NASA Research Announcement.

By late 2008, about 50 researchers around the U.S. could be working

under NLSI's banner. By 2010, that number could double. Funds for

this effort are part of the president's proposed 2008 NASA budget for

the lunar science project within the planetary research program, now

under consideration in Congress.

"We're delighted NASA Ames was chosen to lead this exciting new lunar

science research office," said S. Pete Worden, Ames center director.

"This will complement the agency's ongoing lunar research and further

the implementation of the nation's exploration efforts."

The lunar science institute is modeled after the highly successful

NASA Astrobiology Institute, based at Ames. Established in 1997, the

NASA Astrobiology Institute promotes, conducts and leads integrated

multidisciplinary astrobiology research in addition to training a new

generation of astrobiology researchers.