Community Letter regarding NASA’s Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program
Community Letter regarding NASA’s Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program
9 August 2019
Dear Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Leahy, and Chairman Moran and Ranking Member Shaheen:
As we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 human lunar landing this summer, it was painfully apparent to many Americans that the United States has not built upon the historical successes of the 1960s and early 1970s. Subsequently we have learned much in low-Earth orbit over the past two and a half decades with a continuously tended space station; however, exploration of the Moon continued only with orbital robotic missions until China landed a robotic rover on the Moon’s nearside in 2013. Earlier this year, China became the first nation to successfully land a rove on the Moon’s farside. It is now evident that other nations consider the Moon as an important destination not only for robotic exploration, but also for human explorers. As scientists and exploration experts in the broad and growing lunar and planetary science community, we write today to voice our strong support for the FY2020 Budget Request for NASA’s Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program and moving humans forward to the Moon sustainably, this time with long-term objectives for developing a sustained human presence.
As you are aware, the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program (LDEP) is the continuation of a credible plan to re-engage in lunar surface exploration that has evolved and matured in the past few years, and shown significant progress in the last year. After years of planning next steps toward the Moon, we believe this program is designed for both expediency and cost-effectiveness. That is why we urge its full funding in FY2020, thereby ensuring the continued operation of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, and restoring U.S. access to the surface of Earth’s nearest neighbor for the first time in almost five decades.
With the LDEP, NASA, in coordination with American universities, research institutions, and commercial companies, is now empowered to start addressing decades-long lunar science and exploration objectives. These were articulated at length in comprehensive strategic reports such as the 2007 National Research Council’s Report on the Scientific Context for the Exploration of the Moon, the NASA Planetary Science Decadal Survey, the 2016 Lunar Exploration Roadmap formulated by the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, and the 2017 LEAG Advancing Science of the Moon . In addition, the program will provide opportunities to address Strategic Knowledge Gaps for the Moon Permanent Human Exploration Scenario . We believe that the LEDP is critical to a vibrant space economy that will bring new and exciting employment opportunities to the next generation of scientists and engineers, as well extend beyond to all sectors of society.
The LDEP will give the United States the opportunity to, at long last, systematically prospect for lunar resources, gather comprehensive new samples from many new locations, explore lunar lava tubes, investigate magnetic anomalies, and address a long list of unanswered geophysical questions whose answers have deep implications for advancing our knowledge of the formation of the Solar System and key planetary processes. As the 2017 LEAG Advancing Science of the Moon report stated, “The Moon is a resource-rich, readily accessible target for future United States human and robotic missions that will enable fundamental scientific advances impacting our understanding of the Solar System.” The LDEP has the potential to answer significant questions regarding lunar resources, not least of which is to show the reserve potential (i.e., sufficient quantities of extractable and refineable material that can be utilized at lower cost than being transported from Earth), which is enabling for a sustained human return to the lunar surface, constructively and successfully working in a space environment that would prepare us for sending humans to Mars.
Because of your committee’s leadership in the FY 2019 CJS appropriations bill, NASA has been able to establish a program within the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) to procure transportation and logistics services from private U.S. companies for lunar surface missions. The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program has nine teams on contract. The teams compete amongst themselves for task orders NASA puts together for delivery of science instruments and experiments to the Moon. To much fanfare, two companies are now delivering on awards from NASA to deliver such payloads beginning in 2021. These companies are currently busy readying their landers for their assigned tasks while lunar scientists anxiously prepare for lunar surface access for the first time since 1972. This program represents the beginning of a new era of US-led lunar exploration and discovery, starting with small robotic landers and leading to sustained human presence on the Moon; a necessary condition to truly harness the economic potential of the Moon an enable a vibrant cislunar economy. By incorporating the Moon into our economic sphere, we will realize the enormous potential to create new wealth, new jobs, new technologies, and new industries for Americans.
The CLPS program leverages NASA’s previous work with commercial entities through the Lunar CATALYST program. There are currently planned missions using these commercial partners that will begin to address key science and exploration objectives on the lunar surface. The CLPS program highlights NASA’s intent to catalyze the science community to gain knowledge and insight on Solar System evolution, while gathering important data for human exploration and sustaining human life off-Earth. It has become very evident that the data needed for science are the same as those needed for exploration. Also, the knowledge we regain about how to operate in the lunar environment will inform future science and exploration missions that are larger in scope with likely extensibility to systems that will be used to return humans to the Moon’s surface. While the CLPS program is within SMD, it has vital cross linkages with the human exploration side (HEOMD) that need to be encouraged. As other countries like China and India continue to mature their own space exploration campaigns – each containing robust plans and capabilities for the Moon – we recognize the importance for the United States to press ahead and demonstrate leadership in this arena. It is vital to our future in space that we not cede leadership in surface exploration of the Moon and in cislunar space, as well as the lunar lander market to other nations. As such, the science and exploration experts represented below strongly support the proposed Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program within the FY2020 budget request and its approach to ensure the fastest possible return to the lunar surface, as well as getting Americans on the surface of the Moon to explore, prospect, and prosper. A sustained American human presence on the Moon is vital to our continued leadership in space and our prestige with our international partners. A new sustained human presence will expand on the legacy of Apollo’s history- changing first forays 50 years ago to explore another world, by continuing our quest for knowledge and its promise to benefit all humanity back on Earth.
Sincerely [signed by 76 Lunar & Planetary Scientists, Engineers, and Entrepreneurs from 22 states],
Clive R. Neal
Professor, University of Notre Dame, IN
Dr. Harrison H. Schmitt
Apollo 17 Astronaut; Independent Lunar and
Planetary Scientist, Albuquerque NM
Anne Spudis
U.S. Lunar Enthusiast, Houston, TX.
Dr. Gary Lofgren
Original Apollo PI. U.S. Lunar Scientist, TX
James Head III
Original Apollo PI. Professor, University of Rhode
Island, RI
Robert M. Kelso
Founder/CEO, Kelso Aerospace LLC, TX
Scott Hughes,
Texas A&M University in Kingsville, TX
J. B. Plescia
Adjunct Professor University of Maryland, MD
Dr. Peter J. Chi
Research Geophysicist, UCLA, CA
Kirby Runyon
Lunar Geologist and Exploration Planner, MD
Cameron Mercer
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Greenbelt MD
Carle Pieters
Professor (Research), Brown University, RI
Cesare Grave
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX
Nicolle Zellner
Professor, Albion College, MI.
Ian Garrick-Bethell
Associate Professor, University of California, Santa
Cruz, CA
James Crowell
Founder, Crow Industries, AZ
Timothy Glotch
Professor, Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook
University, NY
Nicholas Schmerr
Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, College
Park MD
Youxue Zhang
Professor at the University of Michigan, MI
David A. Williams
Professor, Arizona State University AZ
Andrew Shaner
U.S. Lunar Educator, Houston TX
Dr. Dana Hurley
Planetary Scientist, Laurel MD
Dr. Heidi Haviland
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Huntsville AL
Dr. Ryan N. Watkins
Research Scientist, Planetary Science Institute, MO
Matthew Borden
Undergrad. Student, University of Notre Dame, IN
Hannah O’Brien
Undergrad. Student, University of Notre Dame, IN
Dr. Edward L. Patrick
Sr. Research Scientist, Southwest Research Institute,
TX
Dr. Brett W. Denevi
US Lunar Scientist, Laurel MD
Michael Torcivia
Graduate Student, University of Note Dame, IN
Juliane Gross
Associate Professor, Rutgers University NJ
Donald Welsh
Undergrad. Student, University of Notre Dame, IN
Geoffrey S. Webb
Graduate Student, University of Note Dame, IN
Dr. Karl Cronberger
Research Technician, University of Notre Dame, IN
Kim A. Cone
Graduate Student, Colorado School of Mines, CO
Dr. David Blewett
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Laurel, MD
Dr. Kris Zacny
VP, Honeybee Robotics, Pasadena, CA
Kevin D. McKeegan
Distinguished Professor of Cosmochemistry &
Geochemistry, UCLA, CA
Dr. Charles Wood
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Wheeling WV
Amanda Nahm
U.S. Lunar Scientist, AZ
Jack Burns
Professor, University of Colorado, CO
Dr. Morgan Shusterman
US Lunar Scientist, Tempe AZ
Bradley L. Jolliff
Professor, Washington University in St. Louis, MO
Dr. William Ambrose
Senior Research Scientist, Bureau of Economic
Geology, University of Texas at Austin, TX
Leonard David
Space Journalist, Golden CO
Dr. Lillian R. Ostrach
US Lunar Scientist, Flagstaff, AZ
Craig Hardgrove
Assistant Professor, Arizona State University, AZ
Dr. Alan Stern
New Horizons PI, Southwest Research Institute CO
Dr. Carleton Moore
Original Apollo PI, Founding Director of Center for
Meteorite Studies, ASU, AZ
Farouk El-Baz
Original Apollo Scientist. Professor, Boston
University, MA
Dr. Steve Simon
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Albuquerque NM.
Stephen M. Elardo
Assistant Professor, University of Florida FL
Dr. Joshua Cahill
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Laurel MD
Dr. Kurt Klaus
Boeing- Retired, Houston TX
G. Jeffrey Taylor
Emeritus Research Prof., University of Hawaii HI
Dr. Catherine A. Dukes
Director – Laboratory for Astrophysics and Surface
Physics, The University of Virginia VA
Mark Robinson
PI – Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. Professor
– Arizona State University AZ
Dallas Beinhoff
Founder – Cislunar Space Development Company,
LLC, Annandale VA
Dr. Carolyn Crow
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Boulder CO
Dr. Benjamin T. Greenhagen
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Laurel MD
Abhijit Basu < Singrauli - at - comcast.net>
Emeritus Professor, U.S. Lunar Scientist, Bloomington IN
Rachel Klima
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Laurel MD
Dr. Julie Stopar
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Houston TX
Nicholas J. Dygert
Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee TN
Dr. Gerald Patterson
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Laurel MD
Dr. Georgiana Kramer
Planetary Science Institute, Houston TX
Dr. Micah J. Schaible
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology,
GA
Sarah Roberts
Graduate Student, University of Tennessee TN
Dr. Linda Martel
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Honolulu HI
Dan Hendrickson
VP Business Development, Astrobotic
(astrobotic.com) PA
Dr. Amy Fagan
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Sylva NC
David J. Lawrence
U.S. lunar and planetary scientist, Laurel MD
Dimitri A. Papanastassiou
Visiting Associate, Geological and Planetary Sciences,
Caltech, Pasadena, CA
Dr. Stephen Mackwell
U.S. Lunar & Planetary Scientist, Columbia, MD
Dr. Charles K. “Chip” Shearer
Senior Research Scientist III, University of New
Mexico, Albuquerque NM
Bob Richards
Founder & CEO, Moon Express (moonexpress.com)
Dr Bradley Thomson
U.S. Lunar Scientist, Knoxville, TN
