Jun 21 2007
From The Space Library
NASA announced that it had selected proposals for future lunar-science activities and had established two new programs to enhance the research that the Vision for Space Exploration had made possible. Under the Lunar Sortie Science Opportunities (LSSO) Program, NASA had selected seven from among more than 70 proposals to develop simple, autonomous instrument packages that future astronauts could deploy on the lunar surface. Scientists planned to use these packages, known as suitcase science studies, to study the Moon’s interior; to examine lunar dust, which creates problems for astronauts; to search for natural resources on the lunar surface; and to use lasers to provide precise information about the position and features of the Moon. The studies complemented two new programs already established in the Science Mission Directorate’s Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters—the Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research (LASER) Program and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Participating Scientist Program. The LRO mission, scheduled to launch in 2008, would help NASA prepare for long-duration human operations on the Moon. For that program, NASA planned to fund researchers analyzing data from the orbiter’s six instruments. Under the LASER program, NASA intended to solicit proposals for research investigating the lunar environment to determine how to enable humans to live and work on the Moon in the future.
NASA, “NASA Prepares for Performing New Science on the Moon,” news release 07-141, 21 June 2007, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/jun/HQ_07141_moon_science.html (accessed 13 April 2010); Aerospace Daily and Defense Report, “NASA Sets New Lunar Science Programs,” Aviation Week, 28 June 2007, http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/lro062707.xml (accessed 20 June 2010).
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