Lunar Science: Window to the Past and Stepping Stone to the Future | NLSI

By David Morrison, Director, & NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) Team, Posted 08/16/09

Link: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/nlsi/publications/whitePapersLSE.pdf

This recent white paper sent to the Augustine Panel by NASA describes how "the NLSI will bring together scientists and engineers from the academic community and NASA Centers to advance lunar science, support both human and robotic missions to the Moon, train the next generation of lunar scientists and communicate the excitement of this scientific exploration to the public." The Google Lunar X-prize announced in Sept '07 has galvanized the emerging entrepreneurial space community.  Nineteen international teams are registered and this will inevitably spur development of a commercial lunar industry.  NASA is having policy discussions focused on allowing NASA to buy services including payload transport to the Moon from these companies once reliable capabilities are demonstrated.  NLSI is pursuing options to contribute small science payloads to private missions to the Moon".  Stay tuned.