NASA to Create Lunar Science Institute

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it will create a U.S. lunar science institute to lead research for lunar exploration missions.

Named the NASA Lunar Science Institute, or NLSI, the effort will be managed from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California.

Officials said NLSI, expected to begin operations March 1, will augment established lunar science investigations funded by NASA by encouraging the formation of interdisciplinary research teams that are larger than those at work in lunar science.

A national search for a NLSI director is being conducted, although most NLSi work will take place at NASA centers, universities and non-profit research groups.

Initially, NASA will select four or five researchers for grants of up to $2 million each for three years, with renewals of up to five years. By late next year, NASA expects about 50 U.S. researchers to be working under NLSI’s banner, with that number possibly doubling by 2010.

The lunar science institute is being modeled after NASA’s Astrobiology Institute that promotes, conducts and leads integrated multidisciplinary astrobiology studies in addition to training a new generation of astrobiology researchers.