NASA Lunar Science Institute

Mission Statement

The Mission of the NLSI and its member investigators is to advance the field of lunar science by:

1) carrying out and supporting collaborative research in lunar science, investigating the Moon itself and using the Moon as a unique platform for other investigations;

2) providing scientific and technical perspectives to NASA on its lunar research programs, including developing investigations for current and future space missions;

3) supporting development of the lunar science community and training the next generation of lunar science researchers; and

4) supporting Education and Public Outreach by providing scientific content for K-14 education programs, and communicating directly with the public.

Organizational Structure

The NASA Lunar Science Institute is a new program to support larger, more focused research efforts in support of NASA's lunar science and exploration programs. The Institute is conceived as an experiment in scientific collaboration across disciplines and within and between the participating Teams irrespective of their geographic distribution. Relatively large research grants will facilitate innovative, longer-term investigations. In addition to sponsoring research, the NLSI carries out programs to strengthen the lunar science community, support NASA lunar flight missions, train the next generation of lunar scientists, and communicate about lunar science with educators and the public. NLSI will also help link lunar-related research programs in SMD (science) and ESMD (exploration).

Operationally, NLSI is modeled on the successful NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI). Since the NLSI is a new organization, it is expected that the detailed content and direction of the Institute will be defined in large part by the investigations that are proposed and selected for inclusion.

The Institute will be managed through a small central office in the NASA Research Park at Ames Research Center. The NLSI Director is selected jointly by Ames and the NASA Science Mission Directorate and reports to the Ames Director. David Morrison serves as Interim Director of the NLSI while a search is conducted for a permanent Director.

Member research teams will be selected competitively through a Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN). Each team is led by a PI (Team Leader), is normally multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary, and commits to contributing to the broad range of NLSI objectives. Funding for each team is expected to be for 4 years at an annual level of $1-2M. A nominal schedule would call for a CAN every two years, with the initial CAN released around June 1, 2008, and proposals due around September 1, 2008. The first funding for selected teams will be early in Fiscal Year 2009. The total NLSI budget at any time depends primarily on the number of member teams.

In addition, international partners can be selected at any time on a no-exchange-of funds basis.

NLSI also organizes a lunar science conference each year near the time of the July anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon. This conference will cover both recent science results and topics where the science community can assist NASA with programmatic issues.

Why is the NLSI based at NASA Ames?

Only the small administrative office (NLSI Central) is at Ames. The member teams, which receive the bulk of the research funding, will be selected through competitive peer-review of formal research proposals.

The Ames Science Directorate, has a long tradition of excellence in space science research, spanning many of the disciplines of potential interest to the NLSI. The relevant Ames research Divisions are Space Science and Astrobiology, which includes lunar and planetary studies, the Earth Science Division, which studies our planet from many perspectives, and the Space Biosciences Division, which explores questions of radiation and other effects of space on living organisms.

Ames has experience managing the highly successful NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) , which serves as a template for the NLSI.

There is also considerable recent lunar mission experience at Ames. The current Ames Director, Pete Worden, was responsible for the Air Force Clementine lunar orbiter , launched in 1994. Ames managed and operated the first NASA lunar mission since Apollo, Lunar Prospector, which was launched into lunar orbit in 1998. The Center is currently developing the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) impact mission, and is starting work on a small orbiter to investigate the lunar atmosphere and dust (LADEE - Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer).